The Reaper's Art
by Dirty Reid
Summary: Naruto is killed by a mob at age nine. In death, he becomes the apprentice of Shinigami, and returns with unholy powers, and a shrouded purpose. YugiNaruHanaTen On hiatus until my muse returns.
1. Death, and the meeting

_**The Reaper's Art**_

By: Dirty Reid

**Summary:** Naruto is killed by a mob at age nine. In death he meets Shinigami who offers him power, and a second chance. What happens when Naruto comes back, wielding the powers of the death god?

**Author's note:** Well, what can I say; this is my first fic, and it's an idea that I've had for a while. So I finally decided to put it in words for the public to read. Enjoy, and leave a review for me. Right now, I'm thinking of making this a semi romantic fic, but I'm not sure who to pair Naruto up with. You tell me!

**Legend:**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

"**Kyuubi" **_**'Kyuubi Thought"**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**The Reaper's Art**

It had been 9 years since the Kyuubi had devastated Konoha to the day. And right now, the annual festival of Kyuubi's defeat at the hands of the Yondaime was in full swing. Unfortunately for a young boy- one Uzumaki Naruto- this also meant that he was being chased by a mob of angry or drunk villagers.

"Kill the demon brat!"

"Erase the scourge from the village!"

These were just some of the cries Naruto heard when he was being chased by mobs. For as long as he could remember, everyone in Konoha had despised him with the fiery intensity of a thousand suns. Unfortunately, his reminiscing had led him to a dead end where the mob cornered him.

"We've got you now, brat." Naruto heard one of the mob's members, smiling evilly. A murmur of insane delight went through the crowd. Naruto gulped, with tears forming in his dark blue orbs.

"But I didn't do anything! Why do you do this to me?!?!" he cried out, tears staining his whiskered face.

"Don't give us that shit, scum! You know why!" and the mob rushed in to beat him. Naruto curled up in a fetal position, and tried to resist the pain. After a moment, Naruto's vision began to grow dark as his life slipped away. Until finally, several minutes later the black abyss of death embraced the little blonde boy. Not even his unnatural healing ability could save him now.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!!!" roared the voice of the Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi, five ANBU flanking him. Craning his neck, he took in the sight of Naruto's now beaten body. Flames of fury began dancing in his eyes.

"You blind bastards," snarled the Hokage, killing intent paralyzing the mob. "You disobeyed the law, AND KILLED AN _INNOCENT HUMAN CHILD!_ The price you will pay with will be your lives! KATON: GOKAKYU NO JUTSU!" An immense ball of flames erupted from the Hokage's mouth, incinerating or melting the screaming mob instantaneously. There was a pregnant pause amongst the Sandaime's five ANBU guards.

"Was that really necessary, Hokage-sama?" asked one of the ANBU members.

"Yes it was. That boy was like a s-son to me…" Sarutobi fell to his knees, tears falling freely from his eyes. One of the ANBU stepped forward and knelt next to the Hokage. He removed his dog mask to reveal the covered face of Hatake Kakashi, Konoha's esteemed Copy Ninja.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama. We were too late. There is nothing we can do now but give the boy a proper funeral. He deserves it." Kakashi looked to his peers and made a hand signal for them to leave. Each of them nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke. With Sarutobi still mourning the loss of a boy he considered his grandson, Kakashi stooped to pick up Naruto's body.

Only to have it fall into dust and scatter with a sudden breeze.

'_Whoa. That was weird.' _Kakashi thought. Sarutobi gave a shuddering sigh then stood up and muttered something about drowning his sorrows. With his job done, Kakashi vanished into thin air.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes and saw a rather odd sight. He was in a dead looking forest. The dirt was grey, the sky was stormy, and the trees were black and leafless. But what really scared him were the hollowed spots on the trees; they looked like roaring, disfigured faces. Naruto began to walk down the small path that had been worn from passer-bys. On the way down the path, large torch brackets carrying white flames illuminated the path.

'_I wonder… Could this be where I hope it isn't?'_ Naruto thought fearfully.

After about five minutes, he saw a large pedestal. Upon the pedestal was a throne. And upon the throne was a white cloaked figure that Naruto recognized as…

"S-Shinigami-s-s-sama." Stuttered the blonde as the Death God smirked at him.


	2. The Offer

The Reaper's Art

Chapter 2: The Offer

**Author's Note:** The first chapter didn't turn out so well. I'm open for constructive criticism or suggestions of who to pair Naruto up with (NO YAOI, IDIOTS!)

* * *

Naruto stared up into the purplish face of Shinigami in horror. The gold ringed pupils of the black-toothed Death God stared straight back at him. He let out a small chuckle as Naruto kneeled when the blonde could no longer look at him.

"No need to be so formal Naruto-kun." Shinigami assured the blonde in his rattling yet deep voice, which was absolutely thrumming with power. "I do not intend to torture you or give you some obscene punishment, as you have no guilt upon your conscience. Instead, I wish to give you a gift." Naruto's head shot up so fast, he would have broken his neck if he were a corporeal being, not just a soul.

"What kind of gift, Shinigami-sama?" asked Naruto cautiously, eyeing the hellish deity before him who floated into the air and stared him in the eyes. "And what do you mean 'you have no guilt upon your conscience'?" The sadistic face of the god hardened slightly.

"I assume you've heard the story of how your Yondaime Hokage killed the Kyuubi no Kitsune at the cost of his life?" Shinigami questioned. Confused as to how this was related to his own question, Naruto nodded. "That is a lie. What really happened on that night was this:

No mortal could kill the Kyuubi. When a fox gains its ninth tail, it attains immortality. The only way the Kyuubi could be defeated was by wrenching its soul from its body. This is precisely what the Yondaime did. He created a seal called 'Shiki Fuujin' which summoned me to seal the Kyuubi's soul inside a newborn child whose chakra coils had not developed yet. A newborn must be chosen so its chakra coils could adapt to the demon's presence. Unfortunately, I had to take the sealer's soul as well, which I did with greatest regret…" Shinigami trailed off for a second and sighed, unhappily.

"Sorry, lost in a moment. As I was saying, the newborn child that Kyuubi was sealed in was you." Naruto's eyes were very close to popping out of his head as all the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place; the glares, the beatings, the names, everything. Eyes watering, Naruto fell to his knees and cried.

"I-is that all I am? A bloodthirsty monster? All I am is a demon?" Naruto choked out as he continued to sob. Shinigami was frozen in place, unsure of what to do. While one half of his conscience wanted to retain his cold and terrorizing demeanour, his other half wanted to go to the boy and try to comfort him. In the end, the latter won the fight.

Shinigami floated down, laid his clawed hand on Naruto's back and rubbed it gently, trying to calm him down.

"I'm sorry that it was me of all people- well, not exactly- who had to break it to you Naruto-kun. And learning about it after you died makes it even worse. I'm truly sorry for you." Naruto raised his puffy bloodshot eyes to look into Shinigami's larger ones.

"A-arigatou, Shinigami-s-sama." Naruto whispered out through his drying tears. Shinigami silently wished that the blonde would be done crying soon or that he could think of a way to make it stop. After a second, he remembered what he was going to tell the boy before the course of the conversation had deviated.

"Ahem, I think I should tell you about the gift I'm going to give you now." Shinigami nonchalantly stated to Naruto. This immediately shut said Uzumaki up. "Seeing as you died for a massacre you didn't commit, one part of the gift is something I have never given any other man, woman, or child: A second chance." The colour left Naruto's whiskered face after processing what Shinigami had just said. Almost as soon as it had disappeared, it reappeared along with a smile of insane glee. Naruto wanted to scream out his thanks and dance. A little voice in the back of his head reminded him that he was dealing with _Shinigami_ of all people (or not) and that his gift could be taken away just as easily. This thought kept him silent. "I suppose that you could think of sending you back as a sort of apology. The second piece of the gift is also something I have never given any mortal." Here, Shinigami paused to let the suspense sink in. After about five seconds, Naruto's patience snapped in half.

"TELL ME, TELL ME, TELL ME!!" Naruto yelled, jumping up and down like a maniac. Shinigami chuckled quietly until the blonde boy stopped.

"Very well. You will obviously want to be able to defend yourself when you rise from the grave. I also understand that it is your ambition to become Hokage?" Surprised, Naruto nodded vigorously.

"You bet it is! I WILL become the greatest Hokage who ever lived! Not even death will stop me!" Naruto then went into a pose that Shinigami had only seen the deceased members of the Maito clan use. A shudder ran through his body.

"Well, to accomplish that dream you must be a strong shinobi. And that's what I intend to help you become; by taking you as my personal apprentice." The only noise that could be heard was the faint crackle of the white flamed torches. Naruto's eyes were wider than when Shinigami had said he would be resurrected. His face was now- literally- milk white. Shinigami grew slightly worried when a minute passed and Naruto was silent.

"A-a-are you _serious_?" Naruto croaked out. Shinigami smirked amusedly.

"Yes Naruto-kun, I am." He replied to his new deschi "A Hokage must have a thorough knowledge of jutsu, along with knowledge of politics and diplomacy." (Naruto's face fell a little at this.) "But if you succeed in your goal, you will have something the previous Hokages did not. I not only intend to teach you the ways of the shinobi, but I will also teach you several foreign arts, as well an ancient style called the Reaper's Art. It is a style that only the Harbingers of Death learn. In short, I'm going to teach you how to be a Shinigami." Naruto was practically salivating at the prospect of learning such things. A sudden thought jumped into his head.

"How will I know this style when I go back? I've always thought that people would lose their memory of Hell when they got back from the dead." Shinigami scoffed loudly.

"You watched too many movies as a living being 'Ruto," Shinigami replied. "Now can we please stop with the questions, and get with the tort- ahem- I mean, training?" Shinigami snickered when he saw a shadow of fear cross Naruto's face. However, Naruto regained his composure and stared his master straight in the eye. Determination burning in his ocean blue eyes, he gave his master a foxy grin.

"Let's get started… Shinigami-shisho!"

* * *

For the first year, Shinigami taught Naruto the basics of being a ninja. Part one was stealth training. This usually meant Naruto was forced to track down and steal or recover something that Shinigami had hidden from him without being detected by the multitude of creatures the Death God had assigned to guard it. Naruto took a little while to get this training down because of his loud nature. After getting the crap kicked out of him four or five times, he managed to complete the test with ease.

The next stage was his stamina and chakra control. While he was already a very energetic boy with tons of energy to burn, his sensei told him he needed more. This led Shinigami to writing weight seals on Naruto's body and increasing his weight from ninety-eight pounds, to one hundred forty-eight pounds. At first Naruto had complained, swearing enough to make Shinigami almost regret taking such an apprentice. However, Naruto quickly adapted to the extra weight and was moving normally again within a week. The chakra control part of his training proved to be slightly more difficult. Because Naruto had a huge chakra reserve, it was hard for him to control it. After about a month of practicing, Naruto managed to get the tree-walking exercise down. Another month-and-a-half and he had water-walking while keeping senbon needles stuck to his body under his belt, as well.

The third aspect was taijutsu training. While Shinigami knew little to nothing about the Academy style of taijutsu in Konoha (mainly because he was too lazy to find out), he knew a vast amount about several other styles, both demon and human. Upon deciding to teach Naruto these styles, he knew that drastically cut back on the advanced training he had in store. Fortunately, the solution came to him in the form of an A-ranked kinjutsu…

"Naruto, before I start teaching you taijutsu, I'm going to teach you a jutsu that will make your training go much faster." Naruto's eyes glittered at the thought.

"What kind of technique, shisho?" he inquired to his master, who smiled at the eagerness of his young decchi. "I'll show you. Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Shinigami crossed his index and middle fingers into a seal, and two identical copies of him popped into existence. Naruto was shocked, and delighted.

"This jutsu is highly beneficial because anything one of the Bunshins learns, sees, or hears is transferred back to the user once it is dispelled. For example, if you were to use a single Kage Bunshin to learn a jutsu, and you were practicing it as well, the time it would take you to learn the jutsu would be cut in half. Savvy?" Shinigami allowed himself an amused, toothy grin when Naruto's face seemed to be illuminated by some light from the heavens above.

"What are the seals, shisho?" Naruto demanded. Shinigami showed him the seal, and told him to gather a great deal of chakra. Naruto formed the seal, gathered chakra, and called the name of the jutsu. To Shinigami's delight and shock, eleven identical copies of Naruto appeared. _'I knew Naruto was good, but not THIS good.'_ Shaking himself out of his stupor, Shinigami clapped his clawed hands together.

"That was absolutely splendid work, Naruto-kun! Wait for a second…" Shinigami quickly created three Kage Bunshins of himself. "Now split up into groups of three each, original included." Naruto and his Bunshins did as they were told, and formed four lines of three. Shinigami and his Bunshins each took a line, and signaled them to follow.

"Why did you want me to make groups, shisho?" Naruto looked quizzically at Shinigami.

"Because I will be teaching you four very different, very difficult fighting styles. This will make you both a formidable hand to hand artist, and far more unpredictable. One group will be learning Kung Fu, a Chinese fighting style. The second group will be learning how to use Muay Thai, a very challenging, yet deadly style. The third group will be learning a demonic fighting style called 'Yajuutsume'. This is a style you are only able to learn because of the Kyuubi. It is an extremely powerful style that has never been revealed to mankind. It will make you fight like an animal, and your power will increase over the time that you use it. And even if someone tried to copy the style, they wouldn't be able to because they lack anything demonic. The style I will be teaching this group is simply karate. These styles will make you a much feared warrior. As your chakra capacity increases, I want you to add more Bunshins to the groups so you may learn faster. Here is a very basic fighting stance…"

* * *

For the next nine months, Naruto was driven into the ground learning his new fighting styles. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy learning how to fight, but near the end of his first year in Hell, Shinigami had added politics, diplomacy, anatomy, and history to his training regimen. Naruto constantly found himself driven to the brink of exhaustion (From both extensive training, and he had tripled his weights.) and mental exhaustion from the rigorous task of learning to be a diplomat. Fortunately, that part of his training was done.

"Excellent work, Naruto-kun. You have proven to be extremely competent in hand-to-hand combat, for which I am very proud of you." Shinigami beamed. His apprentice had changed drastically over the past year. He had grown about six inches, clocking in at approximately 5'1". The weight seals had helped him pack on a great deal of muscle, making him look much more intimidating and strong.

"Now, it is time to focus on your ninjutsu, genjutsu, and weapons training." Naruto grinned slightly maniacally at hearing of this. "But first, we must get you a weapon. Follow me please." Shinigami led his student to a large stone castle about five kilometers away which was a weapons storage building. Inside, Naruto was drooling at the sight of so many weapons.

"Just pick out one that you like." Shinigami said to his apprentice. Naruto began to wander around the room, examining his choices. After a moment, Shinigami heard the sound of a metal blade being run over another metal surface. Turning around, the Death God was somewhat surprised at Naruto's choice of weapon; a large double sided, red-bladed scythe.

"What made you choose that weapon, Naruto?" Shinigami asked curiously.

"The scythe is a rare weapon. It is extremely difficult to master, and those who do are respected and awed by others." Shinigami raised one of his eyebrows. "And after all, what is a Reaper without his scythe?" Naruto finished with a smirk.

"Point taken, Naruto-kun. Do you have a name for your weapon?" Naruto pondered for a moment, thinking of a name for his weapon. A moment later, he grinned.

"Jakyo." He proclaimed. Shinigami raised one of his eyebrows again.

"Heathenism?" Shinigami asked. Naruto nodded.

"I see. Well, enough of that. We must get on with your training."

For the next two months, Shinigami taught Naruto about human jutsu. Naruto mastered these fairly quickly, even though his lowest level jutsu was somewhere around a mid C-rank.

At this point, Naruto's capacity to create Kage Bunshin had increased from one dozen to four dozen without exhausting himself. Once Naruto had mastered his human jutsu, Shinigami would occasionally give him a mission to try and hunt down a rogue demon or spirit that had been causing trouble, and bring it back for punishment. Naturally, Naruto completed the missions easily. Shortly later, Shinigami began to teach Naruto Onijutsu. This, of course, forced Naruto to learn an entirely new set of hand seals: Jackal, Demon, Nemea, Kappa, Griffin, Hydra, Phoenix, Manticore, Angel, and Devil (which, oddly, was a seal where he was flipping his foe of with both hands). It took Naruto a bit longer to get the seals down, as they were quite complicated. The jutsu were also a little tricky, even with the Kage Bunshin. Because demon chakra was so much more intense than human chakra, Naruto tired faster than when he used his normal jutsu. Naruto resolved only to use Onijutsu when in a very dangerous circumstance. Still, by the end of the year, Naruto had mastered Onijutsu, and was so good at human jutsu, that he could perform some of the techniques without hand seals. He had also mastered Jakyo, and had placed several seals and an augmentation upon it. First was the Kanjoinyu Fuin. This seal allowed Naruto a sort of telepathic bond with the scythe. The second augmentation was the chakra system that Naruto had integrated into Jakyo. The system looked like a large, glowing vein running the length of the blade and branching off. Jakyo could use its own jutsu if it wanted, or suck the chakra out of an impaled enemy. It also allowed Jakyo to move on its own accord. The final seal was a Shoheki Fuin that would poison anyone who touched it without Naruto's consent. Shinigami was extremely proud of his student. The second year was drawing to a close.

"You have done very well, Naruto-kun. You have made me extremely proud." Naruto beamed at the compliment. In the past year, he had grown to around 5'3", but he still disliked being called short. He had changed his looks as well. He had grown his hair long enough so that it fell handsomely about his shoulders. In the year of training his ninjutsu, he had managed to contact the Kyuubi, and asked it to give him some slightly demonic characteristics that would compliment his fighting style. Naruto had simply asked for elongated claws, and slightly larger fangs. As an act of compassion, Kyuubi had also changed Naruto's visage, hollowing his cheeks slightly, and re-shaping his jaw. The changes were slight, but it gave Naruto a somewhat rugged, roguish appearance. Shinigami knew he would be a "heart-throb" as he heard people were called. But he would worry about that later.

"Now, it is time for the last part of your training; learning the Reaper's Art." Shinigami looked at his apprentice and was a little surprised when Naruto didn't over-react as he thought his little decchi would. True, Naruto had become more calm, collected, and calculating over the past two years but he still acted rather hyperactive when he was given something new to learn.

"Before we start shisho, may I ask you a question?" asked Naruto, a little meekly.

"Of course you may, Naruto-kun. What is your question?" replied Shinigami.

"… Why did you help me? There are or were other people who are or were more deserving of this gift than I am." Said Naruto. Shinigami sighed.

"At that particular time, you were a person whose suffering was totally atrocious. As I said, you were shunned and mistreated for a sin that was not on your conscience. The glares, the names, the beatings, the assassination attempts, all of it disgusted me. I wanted to come up there and teach your tormentors a lesson in pain by burning their souls and sending them to the deepest level of Hell. Unfortunately, the Code forbids that."

"The Code?" asked Naruto, confused. Shinigami sighed. "The Code of the Messengers of Death." He explained. "A code all death bringers must abide by. That's all you need to know." Naruto nodded.

"Besides, I wanted to give you something you had never had before." Naruto looked confused. "A happy birthday." Naruto's face lit up with happiness.

"Enough with the small talk, we must get on with your training if you are to get back before your generation of Genin are decided."

Shortly later, Naruto was listening with rapt fascination as Shinigami explained the Reaper's Art to him. Mainly, the attacks of the style had to do with souls, and augmenting or mutilating the opponent's body, as well as some elements of shamanism and necromancy. This proved to be the most difficult training Naruto had gone through. But he survived.

* * *

The year passed quickly, and Naruto's time of resurrection was at hand. Standing in the exact spot he had first entered Hell, Naruto bade goodbye to his master.

"Before you go Naruto-kun, I have a couple more presents for you." Naruto smiled genuinely. Shinigami produced a huge scroll from nowhere.

"This is a summoning contract. It allows you to summon a creature from another dimension to aide you in some way. This particular contract is a very special one. You will be the legal holder of the contract for the dragons." Naruto gasped.

"Yes, you will be able to summon dragons. Open the scroll, and sign your name in blood in the first slot." Naruto did as he was told. "The size of the dragon you summon depends upon the amount of chakra you put into the jutsu. The boss of the dragons is Gojira. I would advise not summoning him unless you are alone. These are the seals by the way." Shinigami ran through the seals, which Naruto instantly memorized.

"This is the second gift." Shinigami handed him a gold ring with an obsidian skull-shaped jewel on it. "This ring gives you access to some of my power, and give you a reaper form that you may alter as you please with a thought. You can also change your ordinary clothing with it. Give it a test," Naruto slipped the ring on, thought of a new look and his black body suit was replaced by a blood red cloak with a black muscle shirt and pants. Around his neck was a gold nine point star necklace.

"Nice. Last gift is this..." Shinigami then rammed his hand into Naruto's stomach, and with a bright flash of light, he was thrown down. Opening his eyes after a moment, he saw a small red fox on his chest. Its red eyes stared at him.

"**What the hell? When did you turn yourself into a 200 foot tall colossus kit?" **asked the little fox, shocking Naruto, but making him laugh as well.

"I didn't Kyuubi. _You're_ a two foot tall shrimp." Naruto pointed out. Kyuubi took a second to process this information. He looked around, back at Naruto… and screamed.

**WHAT. THE. FUCK?!?!?! HOW THE HELL COULD YOU LET THAT PURPLE FREAK DO THIS TO ME?!" **He whacked Naruto upside of the head with a surprisingly hard tail.

"Stop bitching, Kyuu-chan." Said Shinigami, smiling playfully. "You can still return to your former glory if Naruto wants you to. Naruto, the way to give Kyuubi more or less power is just a mental command. For example, if you thought 'one tail of power' Kyuubi would automatically get that amount of chakra. However, you can also put him back in the seal if you want to." Shinigami explained. Naruto was grinning like a maniac. With all of these gifts, he would be unstoppable. A question popped into his head.

"Shisho, you said the ring gave me some of your power. Does that mean I can exercise some manner of control over life and death?" Naruto asked in just the right tone.

"Sort of. Mainly, it grants you the inability to be killed. You _might_ be able to bring back a dead person with an actual soul, making them seem like they never died. Why do you ask?" He asked.

"I was just wondering what the extent of my powers would be." Naruto said while feigning innocence in his eyes, hiding his true intentions.

Very well Naruto-kun. Go stand in the centre of the pentagram." Naruto walked into the seal, making sure not to step on any of the blood red ink. The seal was _enormous._ Ordinary kanji rimmed the seal, with strange symbols in the middle, and demonic runes outlining the pentagram in the centre. With a mental command, Kyuubi returned to Naruto with a red flash. Remembering the procedure, Naruto kneeled. Shinigami laid his hand upon the ink, and began to chant:

_**Piitechgu ugi karbe Pievuteur,**_

_**Bekteur zeb karev oduarbeci**_

_**Bu cibebiuci karigu guiaman't**_

_**Nociuzek arjubetekube jeb tozeb! **_

The seal began to glow, and a pillar of white light shot up, enveloping Naruto, and he knew no more.

* * *

With a small groan, Naruto opened his eyes. Looking around, he saw he was in a dark alley. The very same one he had been killed in, if he remembered correctly. That is, if he was killed at all.

'_Was it all just a dream?'_ he was beginning to think that when he felt something in his hand. Looking over, he saw something that made him beam with happiness.

Jakyo.

"**It wasn't a dream kit. Everything was real. Let me out." **Commanded Kyuubi. With a mental command, red chakra flowed out of Naruto's navel. It condensed near the ground and took the form of a fox, the size of a large wolf.

"**Ah, it feels good to stretch my legs." **Said Kyuubi in a very content voice as he stretched his legs and yawned. Naruto grinned.

"C'mon Kyuu, it's time to go see the old man." Naruto gripped his scythe and took off.

A reaper had come to the ninja world. And its name was Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

**End of revised Chapter Two! Hope you like!**

**Dirty Reid**


	3. Back, and Badass

**The Reaper's Art**

**Author's Note: That last chapter was a really long one. For those who don't know some of the words, here's a description:**

"**Yajuutsume"- Beast Claw**

"**Onijutsu"- Demon Techniques**

"**Kanjoinyu Fuin"- Empathy Seal**

"**Shoheki Fuin"-Barrier Seal**

"_**Piitechgu ugi karbe Pievuteur,**_

_**Bekteur zeb karev oduarbeci**_

_**Bu cibebiuci karigu guiaman't**_

_**Nociuzek arjubetekube jeb tozeb!"**_

_**Beings of the Beyond,**_

_**Lend me thy power**_

_**To return this soul**_

_**From whence he came!**_

**Note:** **This is the "Common Demon Tongue", a language I invented myself. I will be using it in some of my novels when I write and release them. At the moment, it's under construction, but I will be sure to put a glossary in my books, so pick them up when they hit the shelves to learn Demonic.**

**Naruto will be on the same team, but he will also socialize more with the other teams as well. And did someone order an extra large dose of Sasuke and Sakura bashing?**

**This will be a Naru/Hana fic, but I will pair him up with others if my readers ask, so LEAVE A REVIEW PLZ!**

"_Jakyo speaking"_

**Meetings, Teams, and "Hot Dogs"

* * *

**

Contempt, shock, fear, and confusion.

These were some of the stares that Naruto received as he walked down the street. He kept his hood up and Jakyo out; this made sure nobody said anything. Kyuubi was getting stares of confusion and hatred, but with a glance from Naruto the person staring looked away. Naruto felt good, being feared rather than sneered at.

'_Fear is one of the greatest weapons you can hold over your foe.'_ Shinigami had told him this once. Naruto had utilized this philosophy on a mission, and it had worked wonders.

Naruto was brought out of his musing when he saw a feminine figure run by, being chased by several large figures. Concerned, Naruto gave chase. He followed them for a minute until the girl's strength gave out. By the vest she had on, Naruto identified her as a Chuunin. He could not make out her face as the three male figures closed in about her.

'_They're going to RAPE her! Ungrateful fools,'_ Naruto channeled a bit more of Kyuubi's chakra into the wolf-sized fox beside him until it grew into a giant fox the size of a large stallion.

"**Time to test our abilities, eh kit?"** said the fox with an evil smile.

'_Indeed. The time has come for me to play the part of the Reaper.'_ Naruto replied as he got onto Kyuubi's back. _'Mush!'_ Naruto commanded.

"**I am NOT a sled dog you damn gaki!"** shouted the fox through Naruto's mind as he ran towards the scene. Naruto simply chuckled, enraging the fox further.

* * *

Inuzuka Hana didn't know what to do. Her attackers were shinobi from Kumo, and had to be at least twice as good as she was. In fighting them off, she had expended most of her chakra, and stamina. She had not gotten far before her legs gave out. Now her attackers were closing in on her, smirking sadistically.

'_Why of all days did I not bring my ninken today?'_ she mentally berated herself.

"That's a good little girl, stopping for us." Mocked one of the opposing ninja. Hana tried to lunge at him with a kunai, but she was pinned down by the second and third.

"Feisty, are we?" whispered the third. "Good, I like 'em feisty…" he was bending down and was almost touching her ear with his lips when she heard paw beats and a voice:

"Cease this madness," said the aforementioned voice in a tone that sent shivers up her spine, and goose bumps along her skin. Craning her neck, she got a look at the figure. He was dressed in a blood red cloak over a black muscle shirt and pants. Around his neck was a pendant in the form of a nine point star. His face was definitely alluring, Hana thought with a blush. He had blonde, shoulder length tresses which fell about his face in a very handsome manner. His high hollowed cheeks and strong, chiseled jaw gave the impression that he was some sort of rugged god. But the eyes, those drop-dead gorgeous azure orbs were truly stunning. Hana felt like she could stare into their depths and never reach the bottom. They held emotions such as compassion, selflessness, and caring. But now, they were blazing in anger.

What surprised Hana the most was the blood red scythe in his right hand. A blue "vein" of chakra was running through it, giving it an aura of dread. The "steed" was purely terrifying; a stallion sized fox with rust red fur. Its blood red eyes stared at the nin and it began salivating, burning holes in the ground where the saliva hit.

"Did you hear me? I said _release her_. Or face my terrible wrath." Said the boy as he dismounted the fox. One of the ninja had the audacity to sneer.

"Or what, gaki? You'll kick us in the shins?" He was about to say something else when the boy disappeared, then reappeared directly in front of him, scythe protruding from his chest. The boy withdrew it and looked at the other two as the dead nin dropped.

"This is your last chance to leave before I kill you, ass wipes." He warned them. Not heeding his warning, the Kumo ninja charged. One threw a punch at the boy's face, which he casually avoided. Looking over at the fox, he sweatdropped at seeing it curl up for a nap. This negligence earned him a boot to the stomach. Looking at his attacker with a bestial snarl, the boy charged up to him with a quick jab to the stomach. He then jumped into the air, and slammed his elbow into the nin's head and his elbow bashed into the jaw with a sickening crunch. With a grunt, he slammed the blade of his scythe through the nin's back. He turned to the last nin who was making hand seals

"Raiton: Dageki Tesaki no jutsu!" his hand began to glow blue with electricity as he charged at the boy, who simply stood there. With incredible speed, the boy threw his scythe like an axe at his opponent, where it impaled him through the neck.

Naruto felt rather disgusted with himself at killing the men. But he told himself it was for a good cause. Looking over at the girl, he walked up to her.

"Are you alright?" he asked her. Up close, she was quite cute. Her long brown hair reached the middle of her back, and was tied up in a ponytail. Her chocolate brown eyes were accented by her pale face which had two red streaks on her cheeks. He stared at her for a moment, then blushed and looked away while mentally reprimanding himself for staring. Hana shook herself out of her stupor and nodded.

"Y-yeah. Thank you for saving me, by the way." Her voice was honey to his ears. She made an attempt to stand up, but failed.

"Out of chakra and exhausted at the same time, eh? Let me help you." Naruto held out his hand, which Hana took.

'_Wow, he has really soft hands.'_ She marveled at the silk-like texture of his slim hand. She was so rapt up in thought of his skin texture that she didn't let go.

"Uh, am I gonna help you or are you just gonna keep holding my hand?" he asked. Hana blushed profusely and released his hand.

"Sorry." She apologized. She tried to start walking, but her legs would not respond and she fell forward; right into the boy's arms. Looking up, she gazed into his eyes.

"What's your name?" she asked him. He hesitated for a second.

"Uzumaki Naruto. And you?" he inquired.

"Inuzuka Hana… You have beautiful eyes by the way, Naruto." Naruto turned red in slow motion at the compliment.

"Arigatou, Hana-san. C'mon, let's get you something to eat before you pass out on me." He then turned to his napping fox.

'_WAKE UP YOU LAZY BASTARD!!' _Naruto mentally screamed. Kyuubi jumped up in shock and looked at Naruto.

"**Damn, gaki! No need to yell!" **Kyuubi grumbled. Naruto helped Hana get up, and jumped on behind her, holding her at the waist so she wouldn't fall off. Kyuubi was a little strained under the pressure, so Naruto fed him some more chakra to the fox, and it grew to be about the size of a large buffalo. Hana was curious.

"Naruto, how does this fox keep growing like that? And why were you staring at it for minute and changing expressions?" She asked. Naruto looked nervous for a second.

"Hana-san, what I'm about to tell you doesn't leave us, wakarimasu ka?" he asked in a tone that left absolutely no room for argument. Hana nodded, listening intently.

"First off… Kenshiki is not an ordinary fox, as you have guessed; he is a demon." Hana sucked in her breath, staring at the demon in fear.

"You have nothing to fear, though. He and I have a sort of bond that allows me to control him, and his size and power. He and I also share a telepathic bond, so I won't raise suspicion. I mean, what would you think of me if you saw me talking to a giant fox, and the fox talked back?" Naruto asked with a little chuckle.

"I wouldn't think it's weird at all. We Inuzuka can communicate with dogs." Hana explained. Naruto looked at her, a slightly apologetic look in his eyes.

"Sorry if that last little comment offended you, Hana-san." He apologized. She smiled a little bit. "None taken, Naruto." She did not realize that she had been leaning back into his chest until now. She blushed at feeling the toned muscles in his chest, warm against her back. The odd thing was that she didn't want to move away.

"Ah, we're here." Naruto stated. Hana looked forward and saw Ichiraku Ramen.

"I haven't been to this place for three years cause of my training trip. My life isn't complete without this heavenly taste of Kami-sama's gift to cuisine." Naruto proclaimed, proudly. Hana laughed at that. 'Kenshiki' stopped, and Naruto dismounted. Hana lamented at the loss of her pillow, but said nothing as she took Naruto's soft hand to help her down. She was still a little weak, so Naruto helped her up to the stand and set her gently onto one of the stools. He set his scythe beside him, and sat down beside her.

"Teuchi ojiisan!" he called out. Seconds later, an aged man came rocketing out of the back of the shop. He stared at Naruto with shock evident in his eyes.

"Naruto? Is that really you?" he asked, bewildered. Naruto smiled foxily.

"Yup, and I could eat this entire stand right now!" he proclaimed just before his stomach roared its wishes to be sated. Teuchi broke into an enormous grin.

"Ayame! Prepare one of every dish we have! Our number one customer's back!" he shouted. He looked at a wide eyed Hana.

"And for you, miss?" he asked politely. Hana shook away the image of a pot-bellied Naruto rolling on the ground, and looked at Teuchi.

"Just a miso pork ramen for me, please." She said. Teuchi nodded and again he shouted back to Ayame. About two minutes later, her ramen was set in front of her, and she ate gratefully. Another ten or so minutes passed, and the two proprietors of Ichiraku Ramen came out carrying Naruto's ten bowls of ramen on trays. Naruto drooled.

"Oh, how I have longed for the sweet taste of this godly creation that is ramen." Said Naruto. The owners then started laughing.

"When did you become a poet, Naruto-kun?" asked the girl called Ayame. Hearing the girl add the –kun suffix to Naruto's name made Hana get a weird feeling in her chest, puzzling her greatly.

'_What the hell? What was that weird feeling?'_ Hana thought before she started eating her ramen quietly. Naruto, wanting to show some manners when in female company (As Shinigami had taught him) picked up a few noodles with his chopsticks, twirled them around so they were in a ball, placed them in his mouth and chewed quietly. Hana had just finished her bowl, and Naruto had just finished his ninth. Looking at the last one, he turned to his now wolf-sized fox.

"Hey Ky…Kenshiki! Come and get it!" He set the bowl down on the ground, and the fox dug into the ramen, spilling very little. It was finished in a couple of seconds, looked up, and_ burped_. It wasn't a quiet little slip up, either; this was a full-blown, echoing belch that could be heard from almost a quarter of a kilometre away. Naruto laughed.

"Really nice there, Kenshiki. How are you gonna be a chick magnet if you burp like that?" Naruto reprimanded his fox, who gave a sheepish grin (for a fox). Hana smiled.

"Well, I'm finished. Thanks for helping me, Naruto." Said Hana. Naruto grinned foxily.

"No problem, Hana-san. How much is all this, Ayame-neechan?" he asked.

"That will be 4280 ryou, Naruto-kun." She answered. Naruto quickly searched his pockets, but couldn't find any cash. Reaching inside his cloak, he felt something and pulled it out, revealing a sparkling ruby.

"This ought to do it. And yes, it is real." Ayame and Teuchi were staring at the small jewel. Naruto grinned at their looks, and then turned to Kyuubi. He channeled some more chakra into it and it grew to the buffalo size again.

"Come on Hana-san, I'll give you a ride home." Naruto held out his hand. She took it, and got up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Naruto got a pink tint to his cheeks, but Hana didn't see. He mentally commanded Kyuubi to go, and he complied, grumbling about a bossy vessel. Naruto listened to Hana's directions, and directed Kyuubi through the streets. He received looks of fear, but not hatred seeing as he kept his hood up. Shortly later, they arrived at Hana's home. Staring upwards slightly, Naruto took in the size of her large home. Looking at the lawn, he saw an occasional bone here and there. _'Remind me never to let you chew on bones, Kyuubi.'_

"**Shut up you little shit! I'm not like those mutts!"** Kyuubi roared back.

'_Love you too, Kyuu.'_ He smirked, helping Hana off.

"Will you be okay, Hana-san?" He asked her, curious about her state.

"I'll be fine Naruto-kun; I'm just a little tired. I'll be better in the morning." She reassured him, and then something occurred to her. _'Did I just call him Naruto-_kun_?'_ she was beginning to wonder if it was just a slip up, but shrugged it off.

"Thank you again for helping me. I'll see you around." At that, Hana kissed him on the cheek, and headed inside. Shocked, Naruto touched his cheek where she had kissed him.

'_If I didn't know better, I'd say she was coming on to me. That wouldn't be so bad, she is kinda attractive.'_ He thought with a semi-perverted giggle.

"**Tell me about it. She's not even my species, and I'M attracted to her." **Kyuubi said. Naruto was about to say something, but decided against it. He climbed onto Kyuubi's back, and raised his scythe.

'_C'mon Kyuubi! Let us ride into the night, to be feared by all mortals of this Earth!'_ Naruto mentally recited, using a variant of some foreign movie he had seen once.

"**Hell yeah! The Fox and his Reaper! Look out ninja, here we come!" **Kyuubi reared up and roared, then galloped off into the night. People screamed in terror as Naruto and Kyuubi charged past them. Naruto smiled when he saw the Hokage tower rear up over the horizon in front of them. The night was still young, so he was sure that the Sandaime would still be there, slaving away at his desk. Naruto would be sure to tease him about that when a terrible revelation was dropped on him like a brick:

'_Oh, dear Kami-sama! I'M going to be Hokage!!'_ Naruto dropped his head in misery. Kyuubi said nothing, as he was currently laughing his fuzzy ass off at his vessel's misery.

* * *

Guard duty at night in the Hokage tower was always boring, thought the guard. Nobody ever came to see the Hokage this late at night, and any intruders would've already been slowed down or stopped by the other guards. Yes, night duty was an extremely boring pain in the ass.

That is, it _was_ a pain in the ass until a red cloaked boy came walking up to him. The boy was wielding a red scythe with a blue chakra vein flowing across it, and was accompanied by a huge red fox. Although he wasn't that big, he still radiated an aura of dread that plainly screamed 'Fuck with me and you die.'

"Halt! What is your business here?" said the guard in a cool voice. The boy smirked.

"I am a resident of Konoha who has just come back from a training trip. I was told by the guards at the gate to come and see Hokage-sama to verify my residency status." He answered in a formal tone. Looking into the boy's eyes, the guard could tell he was not lying. He cast a suspicious look at the fox before letting the boy pass while keeping a wary eye on him.

* * *

Sarutobi was just about to drift off to sleep when he heard the door to his office open.

'_This person better have a DAMN GOOD excuse for stopping me from sleeping. If not, I'm going to do something that involves a hot iron rod and rusty kunai.'_ He mentally fumed. He looked up to see a young boy in a red cloak, carrying a scythe. At his side was a small yellow fox. The boy looked around to see if there were any guards. Finding or sensing none, he formed an unfamiliar seal. Sarutobi tensed slightly, but the room glowed light blue; a seal had just been placed on it.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Sarutobi asked rather curtly. The boy smiled.

"…Hisashiburi dana…Ojiisan." The boy smiled as the Hokage paled.

"Tell me why you are impersonating a dead boy, and I MAY spare you." He growled. The boy clutched at his heart as though he had just been stabbed there.

"You just cut me deep there, Ojiisan. That cut me really deep just now. I suppose you want me to confirm that I'm the real Naruto with something only I would know. Well, when I was seven, I changed the colour of your robes to neon green. My death date was three years ago on October tenth in an alley on Schichidaime Street at approximately 8:21 P.M. You were defeated by my Orioke no jutsu when I was eight. Do you want me to continue?" Naruto asked. Sarutobi was shocked.

"I-is it really you, N-Naruto-kun?" he stuttered out. The boy pulled back his hood. Lo and behold, the face was indeed the one that belonged to Uzumaki Naruto. Tears came to the eyes of the Hokage as he rushed out and hugged Naruto.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you. I thought you were dead." Sarutobi choked out, barely audibly. Naruto looked at the old man.

"I did die." He stated simply. Sarutobi looked at him shocked. Naruto sighed.

"When I got to Hell, Shinigami-sama said he felt sorry for me and gave me a second chance." Sarutobi's eyes widened. "Oh, and he also took me as an apprentice." The old man's eyes were close to popping out of his head. Naruto smiled.

"What did you learn under his tutelage, Naruto-kun?" asked the Sandaime. Naruto sucked in some breath, preparing for his explanation.

"For the first year I learned stealth, tracking, sabotage, and chakra control. In the second year, I was taught Kage Bunshin to speed up my martial arts training. I didn't learn any kind of ninja fighting styles, but I learned these ones instead; Kung Fu, Muay Thai, Karate, and a demon fighting style called Yajuutsume. Near the end, I learned some politics, history, diplomacy and anatomy. After about nine months, I progressed to ninjutsu, genjutsu, and weapons training. After a couple of months I learned all that, plus some Onijutsu" (Sarutobi gasped here) "I learned a couple fuinjutsu that I used on Jakyo here (He tapped the ground with his scythe here). And for the final year, I learned the Reaper's Art; a style only the Messengers of Death learn. It mainly involves souls and doing something to them. As a couple of parting gifts, Shinigami-shisho gave me this ring which lets me access some of his power (Here he held up his black skull ring). As a second gift, he made me the holder for the dragon summoning contract." Sarutobi's jaw was almost ready to fall off. Naruto was tempted to laugh.

"The last gift was partially undoing my seal so Kyuubi here could get out, and being able to cause some trouble. Don't worry; I can put him back in if I want. I can also regulate the amount of chakra he carries, so no mad rampages unless it's in an enemy village or an army." Sarutobi was silent. Finally he managed to croak out:

"How good do you think you are Naruto-kun?" he asked. Naruto thought for a second.

"I can't really tell how good I am. I usually resort to taijutsu and using Jakyo. I don't use a lot of jutsu below B-rank, so you kind of see the danger there. I've resolved only to use Onijutsu when my life is on the line. I've only used the Reaper jutsu once and none of them were too pretty. Although if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say I could probably go toe to toe with a few of the Jounin and ANBU in the village if I had to go all out." Sarutobi was shocked into silence at how good Naruto said he had become in three years.

"Well, going to Hell and coming back to be a ninja is a truly admirable feat, so I think you deserve this." The old man reached under his Kage hat and pulled off his hitai-ate. Smiling, he handed the slightly scuffed symbol of the Leaf's shinobi to Naruto. Smiling to himself, Naruto tied it around his head.

"Domo arigatou gozaimasu Ojiisan." Naruto thanked him profusely. Sarutobi smiled.

"Think nothing of it Naruto-kun. I'll send the Academy a note saying to include you in the Genin team selection for tomorrow. I don't really think you need to go through that frivolous test seeing as you came back from the dead." Sarutobi smiled congenially.

"Thanks again Ojiisan. Oh, one more thing before I'm on my way; can you tell me where the nearest jewelry shop is? I managed to dig up a couple of jewels while I was in Hell." Sarutobi thought for a minute.

"The nearest one is down on Kyudaime Street." Naruto grinned.

"No problem. Catch you later Ojiisan." At that, he channeled some chakra into Kyuubi who grew to his horse size again. Naruto climbed up onto his foxy 'friend' and looked at the startled Hokage. "Oh, and if you're referring to Kyuubi, call him Kenshiki okay?" Naruto looked at him pointedly.

"Of course, Naruto-kun. I never saw you right?" he smirked as he put his pipe in his mouth and took a long drag on it.

"Damn straight! Yee-ha!" Kyuubi reared like a horse and charged out through the front door of the office. Sarutobi grinned again.

'_You never cease to amaze me Naruto-kun. He would make you proud Minato.'_

* * *

Later that night, Naruto had exchanged his jewels at a fancy jewel shop. The shopkeeper had marveled at their quality and had given him about 100 000 000 ryou total for all of them. With some of that cash, he bought himself a decent apartment and moved in immediately. Naruto didn't have any possessions to put in, so he simply crashed onto the bed. A moment later, he was startled when he felt something soft and warm cover him up. Looking up, he saw Kyuubi lying down beside him, tail covering Naruto up.

"**You looked a little cold kit. The last thing I want is for my vessel to catch a cold. However, if you breathe a word about this, I'll give you a headache that'll make your head blow off. I will carry this threat out, unless of course you scratch behind my ears."** Said Kyuubi. Naruto smirked.

'_Sure thing fuzzy.'_ Naruto started to scratch behind Kyuubi's ears. The demon purred contently, and then fell into a deep sleep. Satisfied, Naruto drifted off to a rather smutty dream which involved him and Hana doing several unspeakable acts.

* * *

Naruto awoke from the rather perverted dream with sunlight streaming in through the window. Reaching for his face, he wiped the caked on blood from his nosebleed. Kyuubi snorted and opened his eyes sluggishly.

"**Sleep well kit?"** it asked with an enormous yawn.

'_Yeah. C'mon, let's grab a bite and get going.'_ Naruto climbed out of bed and stretched his arms and legs. He withdrew some of Kyuubi's chakra, and the fox shrank to a smaller size. Naruto thought about what he would like to wear today and finally decided on something. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his clothing idea. There was a black flash and his ring changed his appearance. Naruto was now wearing a black leather jacket with three two inch spikes on each shoulder. On the upper back of the jacket was the name 'Uzumaki' in blood red. Underneath the lettering was a picture of the Kyuubi's face roaring. Naruto wore no shirt underneath his jacket which showed off his toned chest and abs. One of the red weight seals could be seen on his chest; the kanji for 'ten'. Naruto had four more of these, one on each arm and leg. However, they were currently tripled, totaling 150 pounds of weight.

Moving down, Naruto wore plain black pants with wide bottoms and red flame decals on them. He wore large steel-toed boots that would hurt like hell if he kicked someone. He also wore lower arm gloves with brass knuckles on them. Combined with his roguishly handsome looks, Naruto looked like a really sexy badass.

"**You know kit; with a couple of modifications that look would be a great Reaper form for you." **Kyuubi commented. Naruto turned to the fox with a grateful grin.

'_Thanks Kyuu. But we'll experiment with that later, let's go.'_ Naruto grabbed Diabolus and Kyuubi followed him out of the apartment. A short trek later and Naruto found himself at a small coffee shop. Naruto remembered when this shop was built when he was five; the caffeinated drink and food from the Far West instantly became craved by people who were nighthawks, or early risers. However, the Hokage ordered more coffee than anyone in the village, as he was constantly up late doing paperwork.

'_Wonder if I should tell him 'bout the Kage Bunshin's purpose…' _Naruto pondered for a minute as he munched on a jelly-centred pastry that was called a 'danish'. _'Nah, I'll use it as collateral for if I want him to teach me something later.'_ Kyuubi chuckled as he swallowed the danish Naruto had bought for him.

"**You're cruel, you know that kit?" **Said the fox amusedly, smiling at Naruto.

'_Well, coming from you, I'll take that as a comp-'_ He was cut off as a rock hit him in the back of the head.

"Hey Demon! Why couldn't you stay dead? We were happy without-" The woman was silenced when she felt an enormous flare of killing intent from Naruto. Naruto looked at her, and thrust out a hand with a grasping motion. The woman was lifted up into the air and drawn towards him by an invisible force until Naruto was lifting her from the ground by her throat. Pissed beyond reason, Naruto stared straight into her eyes.

"The only demons I see here are you. How can you call me a demon when I never did ANYTHING to you? I'm becoming a nin to PROTECT the village not DESTROY it! However, HEAR THIS KONOHA!!" Naruto roared. By this time, a large crowd had formed a circle and was looking murderous. "I'm back, I'm bad, and this time I'M NOT PUTTING UP WITH ANY OF YOUR BULLSHIT! As for you…" he glared at the woman he was holding. "You have provoked me, now you pay the price! KARITEPO: OTOUKOOYA JIKOKU NO JUTSU!" After calling the jutsu's name, the woman began to age rapidly before their eyes. Her hair lengthened and greyed. Her skin tightened on her entire body then began to boil away, and her eyes receded into her head then wrinkled away. Naruto was left holding a brittle skeleton with hair. Naruto released it and it shattered on the ground instantly. He looked around with an evil smile on his face at the now silent crowd who was staring at him like he was Shinigami himself. Not quite an untrue assumption.

"Anyone else want a piece?" He whispered menacingly. Instantly, the crowd fled, screaming about the Death God being embodied in the Demon Brat. Naruto let out an evil cackle and Kyuubi joined in.

"**Damn kit, look at 'em run like the cockroaches they are!"** Kyuubi laughed. Naruto smirked and gave Kyuubi some extra chakra. Kyuubi grew to his horse size and Naruto jumped onto his back. Kyuubi reared up and roared, scaring away anyone who was still on the street, and began to run for the Academy.

'_Boy will Iruka-sensei be surprised to see me.'_

* * *

It was 8:55 and the Genin hopefuls were sitting inside the classroom waiting for the teams to be announced. Everything was quiet except for two particularly loud fangirl kunoichi; a platinum blonde, one Yamanaka Ino, and a pink haired girl who went by the name of Haruno Sakura. Both were arguing over the second half of the remaining Uchiha clan; an avenger type by the name of Uchiha Sasuke. Said boy was currently trying to block out his annoying fans' high voices and think of particularly torturous ways to kill his elder brother, Itachi. He was brought out of his musings when Iruka shouted out to the class to shut up or be punished.

"Congratulations to all of you for passing the examination. You have taken your first step into becoming Konohagakure's newest batch of protectors. However, don't feel overconfident as some of you may not make it through this training. But we will worry about that later. First, I have an announcement; we will have a new student joining our ranks today." Naturally, this caused a murmur to ripple through the class.

"Excuse me Iruka-sensei, but isn't it rather late for a student to be joining us? The year is over!" Sakura pointed out like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"True enough Sakura, but this student was given permission to join us by the Hokage himself. I believe the note said this student is 'A prodigy Konoha has not seen since Uchiha Itachi'." At this, a certain emo Uchiha looked up interestedly.

'_Perhaps I can learn from this person so I can kill 'him''_ was the thought that ran through Sasuke's head. Now a ripple of apprehension went through the students. After about a second, there was a knock at the door. Inuzuka Kiba's little dog Akamaru perked up, and growled.

"Come in." Iruka called. The door opened to a very surprising sight. A handsome blonde-haired, blue eyed boy stood in the doorway. He was wearing a leather jacket with no shirt, making a few girls blush or drool as they got a look at his well toned body. Looking closer, Iruka noticed he had the kanji for 'ten' was written on his chest. His black pants had red flame decals on the bottom, but did not cover the bottoms of his heavy-sounding boots. In his right hand was a scythe with a red blade and something that looked like a vein of chakra running up it. At his heels was a small, cute orange fox. But the most startling attribute about the boy were the six whisker marks on the side of his hollowed face. _'No, could it possibly be…?'_

"You must be the new student. What is your name?" Iruka asked. Inside him, a war was raging. _'Could it really be him? No! He died three years ago! This one's a fake!'_ But much to Iruka's shock, the side that was hoping was awarded victory.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. Hisashiburi dana Iruka-sensei." Said Naruto with a jovial smile directed towards his ex-sensei/father figure. He started to look around the classroom, scoping out the competition. Surprisingly, he spotted several noteworthy figures. The first was a rather large boy eating a packet of chips. _'He must be one of the Akimichi.'_ Naruto thought, remembering the rather overweight clan whom he had met when he had persuaded Shinigami to bring him to Heaven. The Akimichi he had seen there had been insanely strong, so Naruto made a mental note to be wary of this one. Looking to the Akimichi's right, he saw a thin boy who was evidently a Nara. These men were absolute _geniuses_. Not even Naruto's incredible sense of cunning and stealth had been able to help him defeat even one of the Nara clan. Even Naruto's self invented Kage Shunshin (A move Naruto himself invented which allowed him to teleport between shadows, regardless of the distance apart.) hadn't been a lot of help to him. Naruto put him down on the competition list. The third was an Aburame. The bug users just creeped him out to no end, but he had managed to befriend a few of them. He saw no reason a living one would be different. Naruto was not really surprised to see a Hyuuga in this class. What did surprise him was her demeanour; nervous, scared, shy, and emotionally unstable were some of the thoughts that came to his mind. Normally the Hyuuga people were snobbish and had an air of superiority as they carried the end result of an ancient lab experiment; the Byakugan. This girl interested him, and he hoped to be on her team to help her out if he could. Only then did he remember he had seen her somewhere before, but couldn't remember where exactly. Shrugging it off, he looked around again and was surprised to see a boy with Inuzuka markings on his cheeks and a small dog that was yapping furiously at Kyuubi who took no notice.

'_Looks like this guy's related to Hana, note to self; find out how.'_ Naruto thought and stashed it away for later. Two girls now drew his attention; a blonde and a girl with pink hair. Both were staring at him but he had distinctly heard them squealing 'Sasuke-kun' when he had been eavesdropping before he entered. He knew these two could be good kunoichi if they tried, and took their eyes off the brooding Uchiha that was sitting in between them and staring at him interestedly. In his black eyes, Naruto saw interest, jealousy, and a desire to prove himself worthy to something or someone. Just by his looks, Naruto could tell that the Uchiha was in a state of mental fragility probably from Itachi killing the clan. Naruto decided to play with Sasuke's mind a little bit.

"Stop checking me out Uchiha; I don't swing that way." Said Naruto, grinning. Naturally, his joke elicited a laugh from the boys, death glares from the girls in the Uchiha's fan club, and a death glare from Sasuke himself. "Come Kenshiki." He ordered and the fox trotted along behind him. Naruto chose the only seat still available; which was right next to the Inuzuka. The dog's yapping was starting to give him a headache.

'_Kyuu, wanna scare something? There's the puppy.' _Naruto said to Kyuubi, who chuckled as he leapt onto the desk and growled at the dog, releasing a small amount of killing intent which immediately shut it up. Whimpering, it crawled back to its master's coat and hid. The Inuzuka boy was staring at 'Kenshiki' with confusion and fear. Naruto looked forward at Iruka, saying nothing. Iruka finally stopped staring at the boy he had thought was dead and looked at the Genin.

"Back to what I was going to tell you, you will now be placed on your teams. Naruto's arrival just evened the numbers from 26 to 27 so we will have nine teams. Team 1…" Naruto drifted out for a moment, but suddenly felt a pulse from Jakyo.

"_Master, I sense sinful emotions from the Uchiha boy. Avarice and Wrath have ensnared his sense of reasoning; he will stop at nothing to gain power, even if it means betrayal."_ This revelation was rather disturbing to Naruto. He made a mental note to keep an eye on the Uchiha boy, but his train of thought was interrupted.

'Team 7, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke," Naruto's head banged down onto the table very hard at this. Kami-sama really must have been grumpy today due to the worst person possible being the last person. "and Haruno Sakura." A delighted squeal came from the pink haired girl, which was punctuated by Naruto's rather loud comment:

"Just _great_; I'm on a team with an antisocial emo avenger, and the queen of his fan club. Somebody just ease my pain and lop my head off now." Several small waves of killing intent were sent at him, but he shrugged them off like dust. He looked up at Iruka who was sweatdropping.

"Your Jounin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

* * *

**Well, there we go; Chapter 3. Please leave a review. Constructive criticism is okay.**

**Here are some translations:**

Kumo- Cloud

Raiton: Dageki Tesaki no jutsu- Lightning Release: Shocking Hand Technique

Kenshiki- Pride

Hisashiburi dana- "It's been a while."

Ojiisan- Grandfather

Schichidaime Street- Seventh Street

Domo arigatou gozaimasu- Thank you very much

Kyuudaime Street- Ninth Street

Karitepo: Otoukooya Jikoku no jutsu- Reaper's Art: Father Time Technique

Kage Shunshin- Shadow Body Flicker


	4. Introductions

_**The Reaper's Art**_

**Chapter 4: Envy and Intros**

**By: Dirty Reid**

**A.N.: This chapter took a long time to write. In this chapter, Kurenai gets some new eyes, and Lee's 'problem' is solved! I'm gonna give Naruto the ability to create bloodlines and heal people of normally permanent problems, nothing more. Why doesn't he give himself bloodlines? He's almost a god! He doesn't need any! **

"**Naruto in Reaper Form"

* * *

**

It had been about an hour since the Jounin had come to pick up their Genin teams and Team Seven's Jounin still had not come. Sakura was, naturally, fawning over Sasuke who paid her no attention, irritating her slightly. Naruto was doing the exact same thing, but he had pulled out a small whetstone and was sharpening the top side of Jakyo (**A.N: Jakyo is a double edged scythe**.) fondly. Unbeknownst to the Uchiha and Haruno, he had created a single Kage Bunshin that had hid itself with a simple genjutsu and had used the supplies Naruto had brought with him and laid a trap for their sensei when he came. It was laid out so that when the door was opened, a bucket filled with honey would fall on him, dragging down another bucket, but filled with feathers and pebbles. Once that had been executed, Naruto would cut a wire that would release 200 pounds worth of junk which would pull on another wire which was tied like a noose, thereby stringing their sensei up by his ankle. Merely thinking about it had Naruto stuffing his fist into his mouth, giggling. Unfortunately, he was heard by both Sasuke and Sakura.

"Why are you laughing Blondie? There's nothing funny in here." Said the Uchiha; Naruto smirked, thus irking the Uchiha further.

"Why are you so interested Sasu-chan? I would think that you'd just ignore a commoner like me, what with there being a branch shoved so far up your ass and the whole 'avenger' routine." Naruto snickered when he saw Sasuke bristle, and his little fan come to his aide.

"Naruto-baka, don't insult Sasuke-kun! He is the best of the class and Rookie of the year! He could floor you in seconds!" Sakura screeched, making Naruto cringe. It was time for a belittlement speech.

"Sakura, I don't give a rat's ass if he's the Academy's Rookie of the _Century_. Ninja are professionals, rookies are just hindrances. Right now, _I'm_ the only professional in this room; the only other two people I see are a rookie and someone with potential to be a good ninja if they pipe down, get a certain emo asshole out of 'tunnel vision mode' and try to be a real kunoichi, not just a wothless trash ninja." Naruto grinned when he felt a tiny, uncontrolled amount of killing intent trickling out of the recipients of his insults. To drive his point home, Naruto unleashed a quick, but extremely intense blast of KI. Their pissed expressions changed to something akin to them having seen their own deaths. There was a farting sound, and Naruto looked at a silently gasping Sasuke. Said boy made no words, but charged out of the back door of the classroom almost faster than Naruto could see. On his mad dash out, Naruto saw a small brown patch in the crotch of Sasuke's shorts. Kyuubi looked at Naruto, and Naruto looked at Kyuubi. Two seconds passed, and they suddenly fell to the ground, clutching their sides as they laughed their asses off. This lasted until the pain got the better of them, and Sasuke returned giving them a glare that promised a long and painful death.

'_I will be sure to torture you, then I will kill you, then I will kill 'him'. Everyone shall bow down to me!!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!'_ was the thought that ran through the slightly insane Uchiha's head.

* * *

Somewhere in the Water Country, an elderly man sneezed rather violently. This caused a small fluctuation in the Henge that was over him, causing it to be dispelled. It was revealed that the shinobi using the Henge was a young man in his late teens. His black rat tail fell to the middle of his back, but some of his hair fell about his face. He was wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it which covered most of his body. His hollowed cheeks and cool demeanour were accented by his red Sharingan eyes. This man was Uchiha Itachi; the other Uchiha, and the man with a record number of fangirls, totaling one thousand-three-hundred-thirty-seven. None of them cared if he was an S-class nukenin; they were still crazy about him. Currently, there were two-hundred-six of them around him and they turned to him with ravenous and lustful looks in their eyes. At that particular second, one thought ran through his mind:

'_Oh, SHIT! I am so totally, utterly, and completely SCREWED!'_

* * *

Naruto had just caught his breath and was wiping a tear away from his eye. He faintly heard footsteps becoming louder out in the hall.

'_3…2…1…'_ Naruto mentally counted down until the door opened and their unsuspecting sensei walked in. He was dressed in a navy blue shirt, navy blue pants, and the standard Jounin vest. A mask covered his face and his hitai-ate covered his left eye. His unruly silver hair seemed to defy gravity as it stood straight up. Immediately the pail of honey fell down, drenching their sensei in the process. It pulled down the feathers and pebbles which stuck into the honey, giving the victim the appearance of some sort of dirty cockatoo as his hair stood straight up. Grinning at seeing his foot in the right spot, Naruto cut the wire with one of his claws; this released the bond on the 200 pounds of junk he had gathered, causing it to fall. This pulled on the noose, thereby hoisting their sensei into the air by his ankle. Naruto stared at his sensei, and pumped his fist backwards in a piston motion while howling with laughter.

"The sweet taste of victory is mine! Slide me some, Kenshiki!" He decreed with a delighted grin. He held out his hand, and the little fox brought his paw down on it. Sakura's mouth was hanging open, and Sasuke's eyes were a little wider. Their sensei was scowling something fierce.

"My first opinion is this; I hate you all." He muttered loud enough for them to hear. Naruto sweatdropped at this comment. Sakura looked a little worried, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, I'm your sensei. Meet me on the roof in two minutes." Sasuke got up and walked out the door. Sakura followed like a little puppy. Naruto picked up Jakyo, and placed Kyuubi around his neck like a scarf. He walked over to the window, opened it, and started to climb up the wall.

"Hey! What about me?!?" Their sensei shouted. Naruto's head peeked down from the top of the window, smiling.

"You're a Jounin. Do it yourself." Naruto snickered audibly. Their sensei swore loudly.

* * *

About ten minutes later after their sensei had got out of the trap and cleaned up a little, he was facing his charges on the roof. He was still sticky and slightly feathery, and looked rather murderous.

"Okay, seeing as we're a team we should get to know each other. Start with your name, likes and dislikes, ambitions and or goals." He said in a voice that sounded like he wasn't there when he was speaking to them.

"Ne, sensei, shouldn't you go first so we can see how it's done?" Sakura quipped. Their sensei sighed in exasperation.

"Okay then. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no intention of telling you my likes or dislikes. And, well… I have a lot of hobbies." Naruto blinked and rolled his eyes.

"Okay, you can introduce yourself first Pinky." Kakashi pointed to Sakura. She felt a tad annoyed at the nickname, but shook it off.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. My likes…" Here, she turned to Sasuke with a giggle. "My dislikes…" She turned and glared at Naruto who waved at her cheerfully. "Finally, my ambitions are…" She turned again to Sasuke and giggled madly with a blush. Naruto rolled his eyes and smacked his forehead.

'_Great, one member's a clueless fangirl of a kunoichi.'_ Kakashi thought. "Okay you next, Prince of Darkness."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't have any likes or dislikes. My goal… No, my ambition is to kill a certain man and revive my clan." Sasuke said with absolutely no enthusiasm. Naruto's curiosity was piqued.

'_Wonder why Itachi left Sasuke alive? If anything, he should've killed him first.'_ Naruto thought to himself.

"You introduce yourself next Gorgeous." Said Kakashi, staring. Naruto cleared his throat.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto." At this Kakashi's visible eye widened, but he hid his shock and horror quickly. The battle inside his head was still raging something fierce.

"I like ramen, training, playing pranks, my pet, and inventing new jutsu. My dislikes are perverts, tardy people (Here he glared at the Jounin cyclops) and those who 'Don't peel the skin off an apple, and inspect the insides before eating it.' My ambitions are to become Konoha's greatest Hokage, marry a nice wife, and have three children." Naruto proclaimed. Kyuubi growled at being referred to as a 'pet'. Kakashi's eyebrow rose slightly. Naruto seemed the most normal of the three, but there was simply something off about the fox companion.

"What's with the fox, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, looking at Kyuubi with contempt and thinly veiled suspicion.

"This is Kenshiki. I found him while I was on my training trip. He was hurt and I did my best to heal him. When I tried to bring him back to the wild, he wouldn't go and he tailed me everywhere. I decided just to keep him as a sort of companion. After that, I asked my master to put a seal on him so we could understand each other. We've been tight ever since then." Here, Naruto scratched behind one of the fox's ears. _'Damn, I'm a good liar.'_ He thought.

"Kenshiki can be extremely useful on missions. For example, if we were trying to track someone down, Kenshiki could smell them out to keep us on track. And with this other nifty little trick-" Naruto fed Kyuubi some chakra, and he grew to his horse size again. Sasuke and Sakura backed away a little in shock. Kakashi's visible eye widened.

"-he's also a vicious fighter. So far, I've seen him grow to the size of a buffalo so he could carry me, another ninja and an intruder around. However, I think he can probably get bigger." Naruto almost laughed at the look of horror on Sakura's face. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he recalled something Naruto said earlier.

"You said you like inventing new jutsu Naruto?" He asked. Confused and suspicious, Naruto nodded slowly. "How many have you invented?" He asked, masking the hope of being able to learn these jutsu quite well. Naruto thought, and stared at Sasuke in a rather suspicious manner.

"So far, I've invented three. The first is C-rank, the second… I think would be A-rank. The third is definitely A-rank or possibly S-rank. But I am NOT gonna show ANY of them to you of all people, emo-boy. I'm not gonna let someone with a mutation of an old lab experiment just copy and take my jutsu away." Naruto snapped. Now _that_ comment got the attention of everyone. Kakashi and Sasuke stared particularly intently at the blonde.

"Mind explaining what that last statement was about, Naruto?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke was looking at Naruto angrily at being compared to something akin to a lab rat. Naruto knew he was going to enjoy every second of this.

"Of course I would Kakashi-sensei. About two hundred years ago, a war was about to break out. Not just any war though; one of the greatest wars to take place on the Earth. It was a war that decided who would dominate: Earth…Or Hell. For a while, the armies were well matched; the demons had numbers and their jutsu. Humans had technological terrors; Handheld weapons that fired projectiles faster than sound. Vehicles that could blow up the Hokage tower with one shot. Giant bombs that could decimate the entire country when detonated. The list goes on" The silence on the rooftop was extremely uncomfortable; even the birds had stopped singing.

"The demons were extremely crafty though. Using their abilities, they could become undetectable to the human senses and technology. This allowed them to slaughter countless armies undetected. However, several demons were captured and experimented on. They found that demons had a tiny set of circulatory systems that let flow the energy they used for their 'magic' which we call chakra. Eventually, several scientists came up with the formula that utilized this system to create an eye that could see what the plain eye could not. The experiment failed several times. But eventually they managed to integrate a similar- although weaker- system into humans and made an eye that could see through the demonic illusions. Not only that, but it could see through anything else, give the user a near 360 degree vision field, and allowed the eye's master to see the system of their foe and damage it by using the 'Demon magic'. Thus was born the 'All Seeing Eye'. This eye was given to several thousand soldiers and it ultimately ended the war. With the demons defeated, and their portals to Earth destroyed, the humans of that time began to live in harmony."

"However, the soldiers with the All Seeing Eye began to abuse it for crime and perversions and the like. Eventually they were banished to this very land. However, one demon managed to break through the closed portals and brought Armageddon upon the Earth. Almost all life was wiped out, and most records of the past were destroyed. In the end, only two people with the Eye survived. The woman found the man with the Eye, who went by the name of Hyuuga, and they wed and procreated. Neither of the two knew origins of their eye and assumed it was some sort of godsend. In this light, her husband dubbed his wife's eyes the 'Byakugan'; prized doujutsu of the Hyuuga family. To this day, none of those arrogant, uptight bastards know the origin of their treasured Kekkei Genkai. However, I'm straying from the topic. Eventually, a select group of Hyuuga's eyes began to mutate. The new eye did not allow the user to see the chakra system, but still allowed them to see chakra. The 360 degree vision field was gone, as was the ability to see through anything. However, it came with the miraculous ability to copy any move and track fast moving objects. Later, they discovered that the more experienced the user became, they could use a sort of hypnosis on a victim that looked them in the eye. Several of these people managed to unlock a new level of the eye that gave them the ability to use Hell's Fire, and the God of Illusions' power. This eye was called the 'Sharingan'; the Copy Wheel Eye. The ones who had this eye seceded from the Hyuuga family, and formed the name of Uchiha, the copy ninja. Does that qualify as a good enough explanation?" Nobody said a word. The breeze had stopped blowing, and the two other men were looking a little shocked at hearing that their eyes were a mutation of an experiment hundreds of years old.

"How did you learn all of this?" Sasuke whispered. Naruto turned and stared coldly.

"My master managed to find some of these documents and just put the pieces together from there. They were entrusted to a scientist whom I met while training and he gave me the documents when I saw them and read them." Naruto hissed at him. He looked at his sensei.

"Were you going to tell us something else Kakashi-sensei?" he asked, snapping his sensei out of his stupor.

"Yes I was actually. Meet me tomorrow morning at 8A.M. at training ground 24. Don't bother eating breakfast, or you'll just throw up." At that final statement, Kakashi used the Shunshin to poof away. Naruto looked at his two teammates.

"Well, if you drips don't have anything to say to me, I'll be off scoping out the competition. Come find me if you need me." Naruto turned, and mentally screamed at his fox to wake up. It jumped up, and started cursing left, right, up, down, backwards, forwards, and centre. Naruto chuckled slightly before he mounted his fox and was riding off into the late morning sunrise, leaving Sakura and Sasuke up on the roof. The pink haired girl turned to Sasuke.

"Will you go out with me, Sasuke-kun?" She squeaked, hearts in her eyes.

"No. You're annoying me. Go away." Sasuke turned and jumped off the roof, leaving a dejected and slightly pissed off Sakura behind.

* * *

Naruto had been riding through Konoha, trying to find the other Genin teams for about ten minutes. And while riding, he was trying to think of a 'team name' for him and Kyuubi. So far, Naruto was drawing a blank.

"**Hey kit, how about 'The Fox and the Rider'?"** Kyuubi suggested. Naruto thought for a moment; the name was simple, but had a ring to it that would strike fear into the hearts of any of their prey. He was thinking about the possibilities when Kyuubi cut his train of thought off.

"**Kit, we're getting close to one of the teams. I believe it is Team 10."** Kyuubi warned him. Quietly, the fox slunk through the brush like a snake. Naruto was lying on his stomach so as not to be seen. Eventually, they came upon the unsuspecting team. The Jounin was a relatively tall man with a black goatee. In his mouth was a cigarette. He was wearing normal looking Jounin attire, but two trench knives adorned his fists.

'_This guy looks like Oji-san. I'll have to figure out their relations.'_ Naruto thought. He then looked at the three Genin: Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino.

'_Interesting combination; the Nara catches his opponent with his shadow, and the Yamanaka uses her mind switch technique, or the Akimichi makes ninja pancakes. Wonder how those taste?'_ He snickered quietly at his joke. Unfortunately, the Yamanaka girl heard him.

"Who's there? Come out!" She commanded, gently handling a kunai. Sighing, and wanting to make a big entrance, he hopped onto Kyuubi's back and rode out into the clearing. All four of the nin on Team 10 were more than surprised when the newly named 'Fox and the Rider' trotted out into the field. The Jounin looks especially shocked. Chouji was looking at him slightly fearfully ('_Must be the clothes' _he thought Shikamaru was looking at him with a bored expression. But upon closer inspection, Naruto saw a slight look of interest in Shikamaru's eyes. Ino's mouth had fallen open slightly and she had dropped the kunai she had been holding while ogling Naruto.

"Pick your jaw up off the ground Ino." Naruto grinned as he dismounted his fox. He walked over to Ino and gently closed her jaw. He let his smooth hand caress her soft, pale skin as he released her jaw. Her eyes widened as he sent a shiver through her.

"You're hot, you know that?" She blurted out, but covered her mouth with a squeak afterwards. Chouji and the Jounin were tittering a little bit, and Shikamaru let out a small snicker. Naruto was surprised at her forwardness, and played along with it.

"Why, thank you Ino, so are you." Ino blushed profusely at Naruto's comeback. Chouji was now openly laughing, and the Jounin was covering his mouth to keep from laughing very hard. Shikamaru was now snickering a little more strongly. Finishing with his laugh, Naruto looked at the Jounin.

"You kinda look like the Hokage. Are you related to him?" Naruto asked quizzically.

"Yep. Sarutobi Asuma; I'm his son." Asuma extended his hand, and Naruto shook it.

"Uzumaki Naruto." He answered. Asuma looked curiously at the small ring on Naruto's finger with the black skull on it.

"That's an interesting ring Naruto. Where did you get it?" he asked. The three Genin crowded around to get a better look at the ring.

"My old master gave it to me when I completed my training…" Naruto trailed off as his vision began to swim, and a new scene formed before his eyes:

There was a dark room, and Asuma was in it. In front of him was a strange man with a scratchedhitai-ate from an unknown village around his neck. He was standing inside some sort of trigram and transforming into something with an almost Reaper-esque appearance. He began to scratch and stab himself, and identical injuries happened to Asuma. He then stabbed himself in the chest, reverting back to his silver haired form. Asuma was bleeding profusely from the chest area, and eventually died. Naruto's vision went black, and eventually the real world returned to his eyes. He looked at the Genin who were staring at him a little anxiously, as was Asuma.

"You okay Naruto? You kinda zoned out for a second." He remarked. Naruto looked at him and a frown crossed his face.

"Do you believe in visions of the future Asuma-san?" he asked. Asuma blinked, confused as to what Naruto was getting at. "Not really, why?" he asked.

"Because I just had a vision; it involved your death." There was a collective gasp from the Genin surrounding him. Asuma's eyebrows shot up.

"Please, do tell me about this vision." He sat down on the ground, and looked at Naruto.

"Well, the vision took place in a dark temple or something. You were fighting a strange man who was wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. He had a three bladed scythe and a Jashin pendant. He had just drunk some of your own blood, and used his own to draw some sort of Kashaku Fuin. He turned into something that looked like a Reaper and began to cut himself up. The same thing happened to you, and then he stabbed himself in the chest, killing you. He was immortal or something, because he didn't die. That's where the vision ended." There was complete silence. Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry about that unhappy little revelation. Everywhere I go today, I seem to be making people feel bad. However Asuma-san, visions of the future are not carved in stone; you can avoid this, or prevent it from happening altogether. I don't think you'll have to worry about it for the time being, because you looked a couple of years older in the vision." He leaned closer and whispered _"Come see me when the kids aren't around, and I'll give you a couple of possible solutions."_ He pulled back from Asuma, and looked at Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji with a smile on his handsome face.

"Don't let that little tiding of woe stop this from being a good day! You probably won't have to worry about it for a few _years_ at least. We should get to know each other; tell me a little about yourselves." Naruto looked at his Genin comrades expectantly. He seemed to lighten the mood as they introduced themselves. Naruto shook Chouji and Shikamaru's hands, but he _kissed_ Ino's. This naturally elicited an 'ooh' from the boys and a profuse blush from Ino, along with a smile. She was actually stuttering when she spoke to Naruto. This caused Naruto to start pondering.

'_Maybe she likes me. That wouldn't be so bad; she's actually really beautiful.'_ Deciding not to put the moves on Ino in front of her teammates, he said his thanks for their time and jumped back on Kyuubi. He was about to leave when Asuma called him:

"You specialize in armed combat Naruto?" he asked. Looking at him, Naruto got back off Kyuubi's back, and hefted Diabolus.

"No. I mostly specialize in foreign hand-to-hand combat styles and kinjutsu more than anything else." Asuma's eyes widened when Naruto mentioned that he specialized in kinjutsu. The three Genin's mouths were halfway to the ground.

"You specialize in _kinjutsu_?" said Chouji with a disbelieving look.

"Yeah; hold on, I'll show you one." Naruto walked into the middle of the clearing. For a second he was still, then he began making hand seals; some they recognized, but most they didn't. Naruto stopped on a seal where his thumbs were hooked together, and his middle fingers were facing them before he called out the jutsu's name.

"Kuchiyose: Rashomon!" A large gate with a demon's face rose up from the ground behind him. Asuma was about to say that this jutsu wasn't forbidden when Naruto said one more word.

"Kaiho!" he commanded, and the gates split in the middle. When they opened completely, a horrifying fiery background could be seen. Hundreds of tortured souls screamed out in agony. A disfigured silhouette began to make its way towards the door, but Naruto pointed at the door and it closed with a loud bang and disappeared. Looking over at Team Ten, he laughed at their milk-white faces.

"Very few ninja know the true purpose of the Rashomon Gates; they're the doors to Hell. Sure, they're useful for blocking attacks, but the true purpose is to open them and suck an opponent or opponents into them to suffer for eternity, or to unleash an army of demons to deal out some major destruction." Asuma looked like a fish out of water, as did his Genin. Shikamaru was first to recover from the shock.

"Where did you learn such a troublesome jutsu?" he drawled out, but with interest evident in his bored sounding voice. Naruto smiled at him.

"My ex-master has a collection of long forgotten jutsu that he taught me. I was very lucky to be able to learn this jutsu because of my enormous chakra reserves." The Genin looked awed, as did Asuma.

However it was still was very difficult, even for me, to learn to open the Gates. It takes a _hell_ of a lot of chakra and practice. When I think you're ready and if you want to, I'll try and teach you that jutsu. Don't count on being able to open the gate though; it takes about a quarter of my chakra which would be somewhere around three quarters to two thirds of your own." Naruto ignored the bewildered looks of master and students as he jumped back onto Kyuubi's back.

"Aside from that, if you ever want to learn a foreign fighting style or some high ranked jutsu, just come talk to me okay?" he smiled foxily at them as Kyuubi reared back and roared loudly. "YEE-HAW!!!" Naruto yelled as he rode off into the forest.

* * *

"Okay, let me get this straight;" Said Konoha's famous Copy Ninja as he rubbed his temples. "Naruto _did_ die three years ago. But, he was trained as a spirit by Shinigami. He learned three foreign hand-to-hand styles, AND a demon fighting style. He doesn't use jutsu below B-rank, and some can be used without hand seals. He can perform several Onijutsu, and has his own summoning contract. To top that off, Kyuubi is about halfway out of his seal, and Naruto has some control over life and death?" Kakashi reeled off the condensed version of what Sarutobi had told him.

"Pretty much, yeah." Sarutobi ended his sentence there. Somewhere off in the Earth Country, an androgynous nukenin from Iwagakure sneezed violently, blowing one of his pieces of art up in his face. He began screaming curses to the wind that could be heard almost a kilometre away.

"Wow, that's a shocker." Kakashi remarked, more to himself. "And here I was thinking that Sasuke would be the only one worth being a nin on my team. Then again, Naruto did tell me the origins of the Sharingan and Byakugan." Sarutobi looked at Kakashi interestedly, and the Jounin gave him a condensed storyline.

"It seems Shinigami wasn't just teaching Naruto to be a fighting machine. I wonder… Should I tell him of his heritage? With that kind of training under his belt, he would be able to master Minato's jutsu without a problem." Sarutobi quipped, taking a drag on his small pipe. "Things have been getting out of hand in the past day or so: First, one of the kids with the potential to become the greatest ninja ever comes back from the dead as a Reaper. Second, the Kyuubi is almost free of its seal. Third, the villagers have been complaining that the 'Demon Brat' used some sort of jutsu to age a woman to death. Oh what a screwed up place the world is." He joked dryly.

Kakashi rubbed his temples again. "I don't think you should tell him of his heritage yet; wait until he is ready to enter the Chuunin Exams to tell him. However, do you think I should have him tell the rest of his team what he went through?" He asked.

"No." Sarutobi shook his head. "Can you imagine what kind of hell that would cause? Sakura would probably petrify every time he was near her. Sasuke would probably be driven insane by the fact that he's on a team with someone who is almost a god. It could possibly drive him to leave the village to aide with his vengeance against Itachi, or try and kill Naruto to learn his secrets. I think you're going to have to keep an eye on him Kakashi; I don't think his mind has been very stable for the past couple of years, and Naruto may just unintentionally break it." Kakashi nodded, and disappeared in a poof of smoke. Sarutobi sighed. He asked one of the ANBU guards outside of the door to find Naruto so he could ask him a couple of questions. Just as he turned around, Umino Iruka burst unceremoniously into the room.

"Hokage-sama! Naruto is alive!" He exclaimed. Sarutobi sighed; this was going to be a _very long_ day for the Sandaime Hokage.

* * *

Team Eight had just finished their introductions, and Yuhi Kurenai was analyzing the flaws that her Genin team held. Aburame Shino was the least flawed of the three. He was a very quiet boy that usually only spoke when he was directly addressed. His stoicism probably had to do with people not associating with him, due to the host of Kikai bugs in his body. Nonetheless, he was still very cautious, calculating, and manipulative.

Inuzuka Kiba was a very loud, brash boy with an ego the size of Gamabunta. He was still a very talented fighter though. When he and his dog Akamaru were using their taijutsu style together, they could rip a group of experienced shinobi apart in minutes. However, his ego problem would be a problem in battle as he could underestimate his foe. Kurenai had to be sure to knock him down a couple of pegs while training.

Then there was Hyuuga Hinata. One look at her, and nobody would think that she was the Heiress to the Hyuuga Clan. She had a very quiet, almost scared-looking demeanour and lacked a lot of confidence. Being judgmental was not something the genjutsu artist wanted to be, but she was sure that Hinata would not be able to take a lot of pressure before she gave up in a battle. Her father Hiashi wasn't a lot of help in the matter; he was constantly berating her, calling her weak and worthless and saying that her little sister Hanabi was even stronger than she was. Kurenai knew she would have to work extra hard to make Hinata a good kunoichi. She was going to start on a little lecture, but she detected a strange presence. One was a fairly normal presence, but the second one was angry and oozing bloodlust. Kurenai reached for a kunai.

"Show yourself!" She commanded. Silence weighed upon her ears for a moment. Her Genin were looking at her like she was crazy, but a bush rustled behind them. Turning, they saw the 'new boy' come out of the bush, riding on a horse-sized fox. He was clutching his scythe in his right hand, and was balancing himself on the fox's back with the other. Kurenai noted that he was very handsome, and her mouth opened slightly as her eyes widened. Shaking this off and reprimanding herself, she looked at the blonde.

"Who are you?" She asked. Naruto grinned at her rather smugly.

"That depends upon your answer to my question: Friend or Foe?" He asked the question like it had been rehearsed many times. The Genin were silent.

"A-ano, w-what do y-you mean?" Hinata asked Naruto, while twiddling her fingers nervously. Naruto looked at her with a shadow of a grin on his face.

"I mean are you friends, or will you choose to be my foes?" He asked, shifting his scythe slightly, and hunching forward as though getting ready to attack.

"We choose friends." Shino replied. Naruto looked at him and smile a little bit more.

"In that case, I am Naruto and this is Kenshiki." Naruto replied, scratching behind his fox's ear. Kiba voiced a question Kurenai was thinking as well.

"What would you have said if we'd answered 'foe'?" He asked. Naruto smirked.

"I would have said 'The Fox and the Rider'." Kurenai raised her eyebrows at this statement. _'If I didn't now better, I'd think he was trying to sell himself out as some sort of Harbinger of Death.'_ She thought, not realizing how accurate her thoughts were. Kiba, being the arrogant mutt he was, snorted at Naruto.

"'The Fox and the Rider'? Nice name, but you just look like some pretty boy who's trying to make an image." Kiba proclaimed. Naruto's expression did not waver as he stared at the Inuzuka boy. Suddenly, a grin spread across his face. But this grin was so evil that Kiba began to sweat slightly. Hinata was paler than usual, if possible, and Shino had stepped back in alarm. Naruto raised himself up and got off his steed.

"Is that so, Kiba? Well then, why don't you and I have a little match right here so we can deflate that ego of yours." Naruto walked over to a slightly larger area of the clearing, and was followed by Kiba. Turning to his left, Naruto stuck his scythe into the ground, so that it was standing straight up. "There are no rules for this fight." Naruto stated. Kiba immediately charged at Naruto, who simply stood there. Kiba threw a punch at Naruto, who simply leaned to the right, dodging it. Growling, Kiba followed up with a roundhouse kick which Naruto dodged by doing a back flip.

The match continued for several more minutes with Kiba throwing progressively more reckless strikes, and Naruto dodging them like running away from a five-year-old. Pissed beyond belief, Kiba pulled out a small pill and gave it to Akamaru, who was sitting in Kiba's coat. Akamaru's fur turned red, and he roared like a tiger. Kiba formed several seals, and called out: "Jujin Bunshin!" Akamaru transformed into an identical clone of Kiba.

"Shikyaku no jutsu!" Kiba called and he got down on all fours like Akamaru. Naruto's face remained impassive as Kiba and Akamaru charged at him. Suddenly he got into a battle stance and shouted out "Katon: Karyuu Endan!" An enormous flame blasted from Naruto's mouth and took the form of a dragon. It charged at Kiba and exploded at his feet. Kiba and Akamaru were sent flying and landed about twenty feet away. Kurenai was staring at Naruto in awe and shock. Finally she managed to form words.

"How did you do that jutsu so fast? I didn't even see the hand seals for it." She exclaimed to him. Naruto looked at her and grinned.

"That's because there were no hand seals." Kurenai's eyes widened as she realized what Naruto was saying. "That's right Kurenai-san, I've perfected that jutsu so well, that I don't need to use hand seals for it." Hinata was staring at Naruto, wide-eyed and blushing to boot. Shino was still silent. Naruto looked at the three conscious members of Team Eight. Finally, he spoke.

"You seem to have a fairly good team Kurenai-san. They will grow to be a strong team, but they still have some flaws. As you just saw, Kiba is arrogant, brash, and has a serious ego problem. Shino doesn't have any problems or flaws that I can discern. Hinata… Your only problem is your lack of self-conscience. That can be even a great ninja's downfall in battle. Fortunately, I know how to remedy these problems:"

"Kiba's was just solved, since I beat the shit out of him. I figure a nice ass-whipping will probably help him a bit. Hinata, sometime later, I'll have you introduced to someone who could help you with your confidence. Might I ask who it is that makes you so shy and full of self-hatred?" He asked her, and she looked downwards, tapping her fingers.

"M-my Otou-san. H-he tells me I a-am weak and am n-not w-worthy of the n-name H-Hyuuga. Otou-san s-says my little s-sister is stronger than I am, t-too." Hinata stuttered out. Naruto frowned, and Kurenai could have sworn she saw his eyes become black with golden irises. He looked at Hinata with a baleful look in his eyes, but they were not directed at her. He turned to Kurenai.

"I see. Well, I'll be sure to talk to Daddy Dearest later. Right now, I need to ask; Kurenai-san, you're a genjutsu specialist, correct?" Surprised, Kurenai nodded.

"Well, I happen to know a jutsu that can create a couple of genjutsu that even the Sharingan can't break. Interested in learning it?" Naruto asked. Kurenai's expression didn't change, but Naruto saw a rather hungry look in her red eyes.

"I'm all ears Naruto." She was watching and listening intently. Naruto smiled.

"The lecture doesn't come until later. Kenshiki, c'mere." He beckoned his large fox to come over to them. Naruto looked at Kurenai.

"Hold out your arm." He told her, and she extended her arm. Naruto wrapped his slender fingers around it, and took out a kunai. "Forgive me." He said to her as he made a small, but rather deep gash in her arm. Kurenai gasped in pain, but quickly hid it. Naruto then grasped his fox's paw, and made a small cut in one of its foot pads. He held the fox's paw directly over her wound. A single drop of blood fell from the fox's paw and into Kurenai's gash. As soon as it touched her flesh, the wound healed up. Naruto then began forming completely alien hand seals. He then proceeded to cut his own finger, and wrote an unfamiliar circle of runes on her arm. Finally, he pressed his small ring to the centre. The runes glowed red for a second, and disappeared. For a couple of seconds, nothing happened. But then Kurenai began to feel a burning sensation in her eyes; it didn't hurt, it was just a little uncomfortable. After a few seconds, the burning sensation had stopped. She looked at Naruto in confusion. Wordlessly, Naruto pulled out a small mirror from a pocket inside his jacket. He held it up to Kurenai and she gasped in shock; her pupils had become slits, and small yellow-orange flames appeared to be emanating from them. She looked at Naruto in horror and anger.

"What the hell did you do to me?!" She cried. Naruto smiled a little bit.

"I just gave you your own doujutsu, the Narakugan: Hell's Eye. This eye allows you to create genjutsu that even the most experienced Sharingan Masters can't break. It also lets you break, and copy any unfamiliar genjutsu you fall prey to. Of course, this takes months to get a firm grasp upon. But once you do, you will only need to look at your opponent to put a genjutsu upon them. Also, there are four levels to this eye. You are currently at the weaker end of Level One. As the eye grows stronger through practice the flames your eyes are emitting will grow larger, allowing you to use progressively more powerful genjutsu with less effort. Once you hit Level Two, the flames will become blue, and smaller. This eye will let you cast better illusions, but also exercise some control over the environment. For example, say your target is hopping around and you can't catch him; you can activate the Narakugan and tell the tree roots to catch him. Of course using these techniques will burn up your chakra pretty fast until you strengthen your eyes. In Level Three, the flames are green. You retain all of your previous abilities, and gain a mild form of telepathy that strengthens with the advancement of your skill. The previous abilities will take even less chakra at this point. The ability to copy genjutsu will be available at this level as well." Naruto stopped for a moment to catch his breath. Kurenai was smiling giddily at this point.

"Finally, there is Level Four. At this stage, your flames will be black. All of your other abilities will now take a minimal amount of chakra. In this stage, you can reverse genjutsu, cast them by staring at your opponent and without using hand seals. The third nifty little feature is that you can conjure and manipulate flames to your liking. Also, your opponents can make your genjutsu come to life. For example, if you used a genjutsu that made them see ghostly swords and your opponent tried to cancel the illusion, the genjutsu would sap them of their chakra and make the ghost swords actual incorporeal swords capable of dealing damage. You like what you hear?" Naruto finished with a sly grin. Kurenai was almost salivating at her doujutsu's power.

"THANK YOU NARUTO! I'm so happy right now I could kiss someone!" She acted upon that statement as she grabbed Naruto's head and pulled him into a fierce lip lock. Naruto's eyes almost popped out of his head as the beautiful Jounin kissed him. Hinata was staring in shock, Shino's eyebrows had risen somewhat, and Kiba was wolf-whistling as he had woke up and saw his teacher sucking face with a Genin. Kurenai realized what she was doing and backed away, blushing.

"S-sorry Naruto, spur of the moment thing I guess." She said sheepishly, blushing something fierce. Naruto was doing the exact same thing, but to a greater extent.

"Don't worry about it Kurenai-san. Oh, if you want to turn the Narakugan off, just think about turning something off and the eye will deactivate." He explained. Kurenai did that and her eyes became their normal ruby red again. She looked him in the eye seriously.

"I'm assuming you want some strange payment as a reward?" She asked. Naruto smiled.

"No, just try and introduce Hinata to the person I mentioned earlier. Her name is Mitarashi Anko, ring any bells? Hot, creepy purple-haired chick, Tokubetsu Jounin, uses snake jutsu?" Naruto asked. Kurenai raised her eyebrow, but said nothing as she had suddenly gotten an image of Hinata dressed in a mesh shirt over a bra with a miniskirt and a trench coat. She giggled slightly at the thought of Hinata turning into a younger copy of Anko.

"Sure, but I'm not sure that's a good idea Naruto; Anko _is_ just a little insane." Kurenai told him. "Ah, but that's what'll help Hinata the most; Anko will probably rub off on her a little bit." Naruto smiled mischievously. Hinata was looking more nervous than usual as her sensei and Naruto talked about the creepy woman called Anko. Finally, they stopped talking and Naruto beckoned Hinata to follow him. He got up onto his fox, and held out his hand as though trying to grasp something. His scythe quivered in the ground, and wrenched itself out. It flew at a high speed, straight into Naruto's hand. Hinata was surprised and rooted to the spot.

"Hey Hinata," Naruto roused her from her stupor. "You coming or not?" He asked, holding his hand out. Timidly, Hinata took it; and squeaked in surprise when Naruto pulled her up onto his fox. She cried out when the fox reared back and roared like a neighing horse, and ran off into the forest. The three remaining members of Team Eight sweatdropped at Naruto's flashy exit.

* * *

Hinata was holding onto Naruto for dear life as his fox ran through the city. Villagers screamed or ran in terror as he approached them. Naruto was simply cackling like a madman and waving his scythe through the air. Hinata was staring to question Naruto's sanity when they stopped in front of the Hyuuga Mansion. Naruto got off his fox and helped Hinata down. Naruto then turned to the house and began to walk towards the gate. Nervously, Hinata followed him.

"W-what are you g-going to do N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked. Naruto turned to her.

"Like I said, we're going to have a talk with 'Daddy' about him and your confidence." Naruto replied. Hinata gasped.

"Naruto-kun, y-you can't just b-barge in and start t-talking to my father, he'll h-hurt you!" She desperately tried talking Naruto out of chewing her father out for fear of the blonde shinobi being hurt in ways he had never imagined. Naruto simply scoffed.

"Hinata, I can kill remorselessly; some old prune that can see chakra and has an inferiority complex as big as his house is in for a major shock when I stick my size 10 steel-toed boots up his pompous ass." Naruto spat out as he approached the gate.

"Do you have a pass or appointment?" Asked one of the guards who were standing by the side of the front gate. Naruto stared blankly.

"No." Naruto answered blankly. Hinata sweatdropped.

"Then we cannot allow-" He was cut off as Naruto delivered a quick chop to his neck. Before the second guard could react, Naruto introduced his boot to the guard's groin. He gave a squeak of pain before he dropped to the ground, clutching his 'mini-me'. Naruto actually shuddered and moved his hand closer to his crotch.

"Sheesh, even _I_ felt that one." He stated before walking up the path to the door with Hinata following in his wake. Naruto reached the front door and raised his foot. Applying a little bit of chakra to it, he kicked the door:

And it flew off its hinges with a loud crash. Naruto smiled and strolled through the wreckage. Apparently there was some sort of meeting going on, as several Hyuuga had charged into the atrium at Naruto's rather loud entrance.

"Who are you and what in the nine levels of Hell are you doing?!?!" One of the men screamed at Naruto. Naruto twisted his finger in his ear.

"No need to yell, I'm right here. I need to speak to Hinata's father. _**Now**_." He said the last word rather forcefully. Seconds later, a middle-aged man stepped through the crowd.

"What do you want?" He asked in a cold tone. Naruto's expression didn't change.

"I want nothing more than to help your daughter become stronger." He replied emotionlessly. Hiashi's eyes narrowed as he glared at the scythe-wielding blonde.

"Who are you, and do you know who I am?" He asked haughtily. Naruto grinned.

"Who I am depends on your answer to this: Friend or Foe?" He asked the question that he had asked Hinata. Hiashi's eyes narrowed further.

"What kind of question is that?" He asked. Naruto's expression remained unchanged.

"Answer it, and I'll tell you who I am." He responded. Hiashi scowled.

"Friend." He answered. Naruto smiled, but it held no warmth. "In that case, my name is Uzumaki Naruto." He answered. Hiashi looked a little scared.

"You said you wanted to help my daughter become stronger; why have you come to address me?" He asked. Naruto pulled off his hitai-ate.

"You call your daughter weak. Do you want to know why? Look into this and you will see the source of her weakness." He explained. Hiashi looked into the metal, but saw nothing. Squinting and looking closer, he began to see a reflection of himself.

"There you have it;" Naruto spat, grinning at his method of revelation "YOU are the reason your daughter is not as strong as she could be. You constantly belittling her and berating her increase her self-hatred and destroy her self confidence. You are trying to force your daughter to be someone she is not. My advice is to stop trying that tactic; people grow stronger when they are their own person." Once again, Naruto used one of the philosophies that Shinigami had told him. Hiashi was enraged.

"Who the hell are you to tell me how to be a father?! You have _NO_ right to criticize how I run my family, brat!" Naruto stared at him and let out a bestial snarl.

"I said no such thing! I was merely offering a suggestion as to how to make your daughter stronger. She's weaker than her sister? She's not worthy of the name Hyuuga? Perhaps if you did not tell her these things and merely offer constructive criticism to Hinata when she does something incorrectly, she would be a better kunoichi. Continuing your current method will only harden the shell she is trying to break right now. And Hinata is not trying so hard just to make you happy; it's for her and the benefit of others." Naruto sucked in some breath after his rant. Several of the other Hyuuga were staring wide-eyed at Hiashi at Naruto's startling little revelation. Hinata was milk white, but Hiashi was red with fury.

"Shut up! _I_ am the one who will make Hinata stronger! Not some blonde-haired gaki from a clan of nobodies!" Hiashi spat out. Naruto was pissed beyond belief at this point.

"'A clan of _nobodies'_? Take that back you lab rat or I will feed you to my fox!" Kyuubi came up behind Naruto and let out a roar. Several men backed away in fear. Hiashi, not wanting his pride to be injured, charged at Naruto, Byakugan activated. Naruto remained unmoving until Hiashi was about a metre away: With incredible agility, he swung his scythe and stabbed Hiashi's right arm which was about to strike Naruto. Suddenly, the area where the scythe's metal met Hiashi's flesh began to glow blue. Hiashi cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Naruto withdrew his scythe and looked at the man.

"Weak; this is the only word I have to describe the training you lab rats abide by. The Juuken fighting style is based on the assumption that the opponent is _slower_ than the aggressor. If you would learn from the 'commoners' and swallow your fucking pride, maybe you could make the Hyuuga stronger." Naruto hissed. Hiashi looked up weakly.

"Why do you continually call us 'lab rats'?" Hiashi commented. Naruto smiled evilly.

"I'm not insulting you; I'm simply speaking the truth. Your Byakugan is not a godsend. It is an age-old end result of a military experiment used in a war to prevent Hell's dominance over Earth. I managed to acquire one of the records while I was out of the village, check it out." Naruto pulled out a small sheaf of extremely worn and yellowed paper that was starting to fall apart. He handed it to Hiashi, who took it weakly, and began to read it. This particular document held a picture of a dissected demon, with the chakra system highlighted. The second page showed how the system was integrated into a human. The third page was a page describing the creation of the 'All Seeing Eye' as it was called at the time, and what it was capable of. The fourth page was simply the result of the first system/eye integration operation, which was a success. Hiashi was looking rather traumatized. Naruto could almost hear Hiashi's pride screaming in agony

"N-no! These documents must be false! There is no way that the Byakugan was just an artificial tool for war!" Hiashi exclaimed. The rest of the Hyuuga were looking horrified.

"Believe it scumbag. A scientist who kept records of documents hundreds of years old gave this to me when I saw it and asked if I could read it. How does it feel that your people were just given an experimental war tool that you thought was a godsend?" Naruto taunted. He missed the response, however, because a searing pain erupted in his left leg. Falling to his knees, he took a long hard glare at his attacker; it was a small girl who looked no older than seven or eight. She had long hair that fell to her mid back, and a cute little face that was contorted in rage.

"Don't you dare touch Otou-san, you bully! He's never done anything to you!" She screamed at him. She brought her palm back for another strike, but Naruto caught her arm and held it in a vice grip. She struggled to get free, but stopped when she took a better look at Naruto's arm. Curious, Naruto looked too, and gasped.

His once slightly tanned skin was now a dark purple. Around his wrist was a set of prayer beads. Naruto searched for the small mirror in his jacket pocket. Finding it, and looking into it, he sucked in his breath and stiffened. His face was now purple, and his once azure eyes were now all black with a small golden ring that was his iris. Two large horns were sticking out of his forehead like small tree branches. When he opened his mouth, his teeth were now extremely pointy, and black. He hissed, but it came out sounding rather like a growl that shook the room.

'_Kyuubi, what the fuck just happened to me?!'_ He shouted mentally. The fox chuckled.

"**This, kit, is your Reaper form. This must be your 'default' form; looking similar to Shinigami himself."** Kyuubi replied. Smiling, he threw the little girl back about ten feet. He stood and turned slowly to glare at Hiashi who petrified immediately.

"**Hear this, scum;"** Naruto's deep, bass voice thundered about the small chamber. **"Stealing your chakra with my scythe is a slap in the face compared to my true power. You, Hiashi, are to start treating Hinata better. This means no abuse, spiteful criticism, or belittlement. If I catch you, or get wind of any of this behaviour again, know this; souls taste good with ketchup."** He laughed evilly when he saw their faces. He calmed himself and he felt his features return to normal. He turned to Hinata and motioned for her to follow. She complied, pale as the moon. None of the Hyuuga bothered to stop him, out of fear most likely. Naruto sensed this.

"Don't be scared Hinata; that was just a genjutsu that I never tried before. I was just a little shocked at the results. The lines were just something I thought Shinigami would say in that particular situation. " Naruto explained, mentally praising his lying ability. However, Shinigami _did_ tell him that souls tasted good with ketchup; which he had demonstrated when he had had Naruto take someone's soul while training him in the Reaper's Art. Naruto actually tried it, and it was quite delicious. He got back on Kyuubi, and helped Hinata up. The fox began to canter out of the compound silently. Hinata asked a question that had been nagging her ever since Naruto had defeated her father.

"Naruto-kun, w-what was th-that jutsu you used on m-my father?" She asked. Naruto turned around, and looked into her eyes.

"That was a jutsu that my scythe used. There is a Kanjoinyu Fuin on it, and a chakra system integrated into it. This gives Jakyo a personality along the ability to use jutsu, and suck chakra out of an enemy." He answered. Hinata looked awed. She was silent until they got back to the training ground, where Team Eight was still waiting.

"I trust everything went well?" Kurenai asked. Naruto noticed she had the Narakugan activated, and Kiba was a little paler than usual. Naruto grinned.

"Yup, I put those bastards in their places. I want you to introduce Hinata to Anko as soon as possible, okay Kurenai-san?" Naruto replied. Kurenai nodded.

"Excellent. Well, I'm off. Catch you cats on the flip-flop!" Naruto rode off, leaving an extremely confused Team Eight behind him. Their thoughts were unanimous:

'_What the hell does THAT mean!?'_

* * *

Team Nine was just ending their usual morning workout. Tsukiakari Tenten and Hyuuga Neji were utterly exhausted, and they had been doing this for a year. Rock Lee however, was still able to bounce around like a flea on soldier pills. It completely baffled them as to how he did it. What was worse was that he was currently in one of his 'hug fests' with their Jounin sensei, Maito Gai. Unfortunately apart from actually _feeling_ her soul writhe in agony at the sight, a strange genjutsu always manifested as a scene on a beach with waves crashing, and a beautiful sunset. The scene was scary enough to make any hardened ninja turn and run. How she could stand it was completely beyond her. Fortunately, Kami-sama must have been feeling gracious today, because he sent in an unseen distraction which made a rather loud comment: 

"In all of the frightening things I have seen in my life, you two are the scariest." It proclaimed. Turning around, Tenten and Neji saw a shirtless young boy in a leather jacket with huge spikes on the shoulder. He wore black pants, and gloves with brass knuckles. In his right hand was a blood red scythe with a blue vein on it. The boy was intimidating, but the stallion-sized fox he was riding on was just plain _terrifying_. Its huge fangs were bared, and its blood red eyes seemed to be looking into their souls. The sunset background immediately vanished as Gai and Lee stared at the newcomer.

"Who are you, youthful one?" Lee asked the boy, curiosity and anxiety evident in his voice. The boy looked at him, and gave him a truly evil smile. The bug-eyed, green spandex clad Genin's eyes widened and he backed away in shock.

"To gain that knowledge, you must first answer my question; Friend or Foe?" He asked, while still smiling menacingly. Neji was curiously sizing the boy up, Byakugan activated. Unfortunately for him he was noticed. Said boy looked at Neji, gasped, and covered up his private part.

"STOP CHECKING ME OUT YOU PERVERT!!" He screamed rather loudly. Neji, realizing what Naruto was implying, unintentionally let his Byakugan weaken; which now left him only able to see through Naruto's clothes. Yelling in disgust and horror at the sight, he turned away and covered his eyes. Gai, Lee, and Tenten were laughing their asses off at Neji's humiliation. Naruto began laughing uproariously after a moment, and his fox appeared to be doing the same. Neji was red from embarrassment, and was wishing he could gouge his eyes out. After a moment, the laughter died down.

We choose the option (giggle) of 'friend'." Tenten answered, wiping a tear from her eye. Naruto managed to contain his giggles for a moment and looked at her.

"Good answer; Uzumaki Naruto is my name." He told them. Gai's eyes narrowed slightly, but he returned to his normal, loud self instantly.

"I seem to recall seeing you before Naruto-kun, but this was years ago. To what youthful destination did you go?" He asked. All of the Genin were listening intently.

"I was taken as an apprentice by a man who shall remain nameless at this moment. He took me to different places around the world to learn foreign combat styles and techniques. For this, I am extremely grateful as he saw me as who I am, and not what I am. This gave me strength, and spurred my ambition to become Hokage even more." Gai, Lee, and Tenten were looking at him with respect and awe. Neji scoffed however.

"Only those chosen by fate will become Hokage. The four faces on the mountain were destined to become Kage. You look like some dobe trying to look tough, you will not become Hokage. I doubt you could even lay a hand on me." Neji stated. The rest of Team Nine looked a little disheartened that Neji had killed the mood. Naruto however, was staring at Neji. His patented 'evil smile' crossed his face. But this time, he opened his jaws slightly to reveal pointed fangs, and a long, pointy tongue. Neji looked shocked, as well as sickened.

"You think so you rat? Care to back up your claim, trash?" Naruto snarled. The rest of the team was shocked; a challenge had been issued. Neji smirked.

"I accept your challenge, and look forward to seeing your disheartened eyes." He walked to the centre of the training ground, and Naruto followed. Facing each other, Neji activated his Byakugan again. Naruto turned to the side and slammed his scythe into the ground. He pulled off his gloves and brass knuckles, and threw them to the side. Reaching into his inner pockets, he pulled out two long, thin chains which he proceeded to wrap around his lower arms, and hands (Think Tony Jaa rope fist fighting in Ong Bak.). He stared at Neji coldly.

"Don't pull any punches Neji," He told his opponent, forming a ram seal. His weight seals glowed red, before canceling one third of them. Naruto now felt much lighter. "because I'm not pulling any of mine." He charged at Neji with almost inhuman agility. Neji's eyes widened as he proceeded to try and dodge Naruto's strikes. The problem was this; Naruto was using a foreign fighting style. Neji was unable to predict the moves of this style, which seemed to have required him to build up a great deal of speed. The strength behind his punch was nothing to be sneezed at either. Naruto had punched Neji in the face once, and his jaw had made a sickening cracking sound. Neji was pissed and started to get serious. He had nothing against the younger boy, but he wanted the kid down.

"Time to get serious! Hakke Sanjunisho!" Neji cried as he lunged forward to close Naruto's tenketsu. Unfortunately, Naruto was in the shadow of a tree. With a shit-eating grin, Naruto formed three seals, and disappeared from the shadow with a puff of lingering black smoke and a small bang. Looking around, another bang was heard as Naruto popped into existence in a nearby shadow. He rushed at Neji and held out his hand like a sword. The air around it started to look distorted. Gai's eyes widened as he recognized the attack that Naruto was using. Neji turned and faced Naruto.

"Kaze no Yaiba!" Naruto called out. Neji managed to jump out of the way; and gasped in shock when Naruto's slice cut straight through the tree. Naruto turned and looked at the Hyuuga as the tree crashed down behind him.

"I have to admit Neji; you've proven to be a formidable challenge. You've avoided my attacks, and I've only landed one or two hits on you, even though I still have 100 pounds of weight on." Neji's eyes looked like dinner plates. _100 pounds?!_

"You've also required me to reveal one of my personal jutsu, Kage Shunshin. However, it's time to bring out the big guns." Naruto began forming another set of seals.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He cried. An enormous blast of smoke ensued. When it cleared, Team Nine almost screamed. Naruto was standing atop a large, scaly creature that had to be about eighteen feet long. Its scales were an iridescent blue, and its stomach was a pale cream colour. The beast was standing on all fours, but its legs were shaped so that it could stand on its two rear legs as well. On its back were two large leathery wings which, when extended, probably spanned about twenty feet. Small spines ran down the beast's back, and became a ring of slightly larger spikes on its huge tail. Its long neck was wreathed by two fan-like appendages, which were flattened at the particular moment. It had a long snout and bright green eyes with slits for pupils. It growled slightly, baring huge fangs, and a small amount of smoke escaped its jaws. The creature that Naruto had summoned was a dragon.

"Who brings me here?" Its voice rumbled out smoothly. Naruto jumped off its back and bowed politely to the beast.

"It was I, Uzumaki Naruto, who brought you here. May I ask your name?" Naruto told it. The dragon stared at Naruto for a moment, and then a small grin crossed its face.

"My name is Tempestas. It is a great pleasure to meet you, master." Tempestas replied, bowing his head. "Why have you called me here?" He asked.

"Oh, just to incinerate the white-eyed rat over there." Naruto replied nonchalantly. Tempestas scowled at Naruto.

"There's a reason my name means 'wind', master." He reprimanded the blonde. Rearing back his head, he opened his mouth and let fly an enormous blast of wind. Unable to dodge, Neji was caught in the blast. Several large gashes appeared on his body as the wind tore him up. He fell against a tree, panting. Tempestas hissed in satisfaction. Naruto grinned as he crouched down in front of Neji. He formed a Nemea seal, and sea-green chakra formed around his hands. He ran them over Neji's wounds, and they healed instantly. Neji looked at him in shock.

"Why did you heal me?" He asked, confused. Naruto looked him in the eyes.

"Even though I don't like you much, you show a great amount of talent. I can already tell you will be a great ninja Neji. Scratch that; you'll be a great ninja _IF_ you put the greater-than-thou mindset away and stop believing in fate. There are two ways to live Neji: One way is to let others control how you live. The second way is to live the life that _you_ want. The only common fate we share, or have, is death." Naruto said to him. The Hyuuga was looking dumbfounded for two reasons: One, he had just been defeated by someone younger than him. Two, he realized that said defeater was right. A new light dawned on him, and he smiled at Naruto. Not a fake one either; this was a genuine smile.

"Thank you Naruto." Neji could not think of anything else to say to Naruto. The blonde just smiled at him, and helped him up.

"Do itashimashite, Neji." He replied. Naruto turned to look at the beaming team behind him. Gai's teeth were shining like the sun itself.

"Yosh! Your flames of youth burn brightly Naruto-kun! You have managed to make Neji-kun see the light!" Gai shouted. "May I ask who your youthful sensei is?"

"Hatake Kakashi." Naruto replied. Flames appeared in Gai's eyes.

"My eternal rival! You are lucky to be on a team with him Naruto! He is a great nin, and a genius! However, HARD WORK WILL ALWAYS OVERCOME GENIUS!!" Gai shouted out the last part rather loudly. Naruto rubbed his ear and leaned over to Tenten.

"Uh… Is he always like that?" Naruto whispered. Tenten grimaced.

"Trust me; this is one of his _good_ days." She told him. Naruto chuckled.

"Are you good with your scythe Naruto?" She asked. Naruto looked her in the eyes. _'She has such a cute little face, and those buns just make her cuter.' _He thought.

"Yes I am. Why do you ask?" He asked her. Tenten smiled.

"I'm a weapon specialist. Care to spar with me?" She asked. Naruto smiled again.

"Sure! I haven't had a decent armed combat match for a year or so!" He exclaimed. He looked at his scythe, and stuck his hand out in a sort of grasping motion. The scythe began to shake in the ground, and then it flew straight to his hand. Tenten's eyes widened considerably. Naruto laughed at the look on her cute face.

"Jakyo is sentient, and can move on its own accord." He explained. "If you want, I can do that for one of your weapons." He chuckled when stars appeared in her eyes. She pulled out a scroll, and summoned a plain black katana from it. Standing in the middle of the field, a slight breeze whispered through it. Naruto was reminded of an old samurai movie he had seen as a child. Neji, as the ref, called "Hajime!" Tenten charged at Naruto and sliced at him horizontally. Naruto blocked it with a sweeping motion, and swung Jakyo at her. Tenten backed away, and blocked the butt of Naruto's scythe. Naruto began to spin around like a dancer, striking at Tenten with unusual precision, as he probably couldn't see her. Tenten blocked one of his swipes, and parried it to the right, throwing Naruto off balance slightly. Tenten aimed for a downwards vertical strike. Naruto brought Jakyo up and blocked the strike with the staff part of his scythe. Tenten thrust the sword forward, aiming for Naruto's stomach. What she didn't expect was for Naruto to swing his fist at the sword. The chain on his right fist unraveled, and wrapped around the sword. Yanking his fist back, the chain pulled the katana out of Tenten's unsuspecting hands. Quick as lightning, he held the tip of Jakyo over her heart. Tenten's eyes widened.

"What was that last technique?" She asked, eye on the blade. Naruto removed it.

"I was just controlling the chains with my chakra. Much like someone uses chakra to wrap someone up with some other material while using Omote Renge." Gai and Lee smiled when Naruto mentioned that technique.

"Can you use that most youthful technique, Naruto-kun?" Lee asked him. Naruto smiled.

"No, but I've invented my own Lotus technique. It's called the Kurogane Renge; the Iron Lotus." (**A.N.: Yes, I took the name from Blades of Glory… Which I don't own either. Damn.) **Gai and Lee were looking rather wide eyed at the blonde.

"Can you teach us how to do this technique, Naruto-kun?" Gai asked. He sounded like a small child, begging for a toy. Naruto grinned at the look.

"Well, I might be able to. The technique doesn't require any of the Hachimon, just an incredible sense of foot to eye coordination, balance, flexibility, and timing. This technique is basically throwing your foe up in the air, doing a butterfly kick, and decapitating him with your foot." They looked rather confused. How could you decapitate someone with just your foot?

"You need to be wearing a special sort of shoe called a 'skate' to do this move. It's sort of a shoe with a blade on it that allows you to glide over ice. It takes years of practice to get good at it, and even longer to perfect the Kurogane Renge. If I can whip up a few sets of skates, I can try and teach it to you four." Lee was looking ecstatic and jumping around like a maniac. Naruto sent out a small chakra pulse, with intent to analyze the hyper Genin. When the pulse reached him, Naruto felt that something was not right about him. Narrowing his eyes, he walked over to Neji.

"Hold still for a moment will you?" Naruto more or less told Neji as he grabbed the Hyuuga's head. Neji squirmed in shock and outrage.

"What the hell are you doing?" He exclaimed. Naruto, not listening, closed his eyes, and formed a one-handed Manticore seal. He opened his eyes to reveal the pale lavender of the Byakugan. Looking at Lee, he was very surprised: The guy had fragmented, and deformed chakra pathways. Releasing Neji, he felt the Byakugan's power fade.

"Lee, do you wish to know _why_ you can't use nin or genjutsu?" He asked. Lee was looking at him rather strangely. The rest of the team was staring and listening intently.

"This most unyouthful question has always plagued my mind. Please, do tell me of the reason Naruto-kun!" Lee turned and gave his full and undivided attention to Naruto.

"The answer is quite simple: Your chakra pathways are deformed and fragmented. Fortunately, I know how to alleviate you of this condition. Do you want me to give you the power to use jutsu?" Naruto asked, eyebrow quirked. Lee's eyes almost exploded.

"YES! HEAL ME OF MY CONDITION SO I CAN BECOME AN EVEN GREATER NINJA NARUTO!!!" Lee bellowed. Naruto cringed at the volume, and Tempestas was clapping his 'hands' to the sides of his head.

"Okay then, let the healing begin." Naruto pulled Lee's shirt off, bit his own finger and began writing Holy Seals on Lee's chest. Pulling out a small vial of a colourless liquid, he told Lee to drink it. Finishing the seals, Naruto pressed his ring to the small star in the centre of the Holy Seals and began to chant in a foreign language:

"_Valde res of Ultra, vigoratus is patientia animus. Sino suus poena futurus nisus, quod commodo mihi vestri vox!"_ The language rolled off of Naruto's tongue like it was honey. Suddenly, the seals began to glow blue, and Lee began to glow white. The light became blinding, and the humans and beasts alike had to cover their eyes. After a moment passed, the glow faded and Naruto doubled over, panting. Lee was looking a little perplexed, as though he felt something but couldn't see it. Naruto looked up and grinned.

"That should have repaired your chakra pathways. Lee, form this seal, and gather a lot of chakra so you can test them." Naruto showed Lee the seal, and Lee replicated it. Naruto almost felt the surge of chakra. There were multiple pops, and there were now nine or ten identical Lees standing there. Naruto blinked in surprise.

"I'm shocked Lee; you have a _very_ large chakra reserve, AND you mastered a Jounin level kinjutsu on the first try. Congratulations!" Naruto said, ecstatically. Tears of joy were running down Lee's face. The rest of the team was looking shocked, as was Kyuubi and Tempestas.

"There is another benefit for learning the Kage Bunshin no jutsu: Anything one of your Bunshins learns is transferred to you when it is dispelled. Think of the possibilities; you could be working on taijutsu, and you could have twenty clones working on nin and genjutsu! You could become _almost_ like me in time!" Naruto couldn't help but smile at the look on Lee's face.

"THANK YOU NARUTO-KUN! YOU ARE TRULY THE GREATEST MAN I HAVE EVER MET!" Lee cried as he pulled Naruto into a bear hug. Naruto was a little hard pressed to breathe, but it wasn't like he needed it. He was _almost_ a god, after all. Lee released him with an enormous smile.

"By the way, what was that most youthful fighting style that you used against Neji Naruto-kun?" Lee asked, politely interested. Gai was listening as well.

"That style I used was Muay Thai. Muay Thai is an ancient style from a country called Thailand, far west on the Continent. That style takes years of practice to perfect. I managed to get a firm grasp on it in about a year with Kage Bunshin. I'm not a very good teacher though, so I won't be able to teach you a lot of it. But I will try…" Naruto was cut off as an ANBU wearing a bear mask poofed into existence.

"Uzumaki-san, Hokage-sama requests to see you immediately." He said quickly, and poofed away again once he had delivered the message. Naruto rolled his eyes. Kyuubi walked over to his side, and Tempestas disappeared. Naruto turned to Team Nine.

"Nice meeting you guys." He said before disappearing, using Kage Shunshin.

* * *

Naruto reappeared in the shadows of the Hokage's office with a loud bang, startling the old man. He noticed Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai were present as well. 

"What's with the little shindig going on Ojiisan?" Naruto asked.

"Well Naruto-kun, I think all of us want to know something. The villagers have been claiming that you 'aged an innocent woman to death'. Is this true?" The old man asked. Naruto snorted rather loudly.

"Innocent, my ass! She provoked me by throwing a stone at me, and broke your law by mentioning my condition. All I did was serve out some justice." Naruto said in his own defense. The three Jounin looked at the elder Sarutobi.

"Well, that seems like reasonable grounds. A nearby ANBU said that this was a jutsu that he had never seen before. Could you please explain it to me?" He asked, leaning back in his chair and taking a drag. The Jounin were staring at him curiously.

"Sure I'll explain it. The particular jutsu I used was the Otoukooya Jikoku no jutsu; the Father Time Technique. What it does, is it begins to speed up the aging of cells in the target's body, thus causing them to age rapidly. The jutsu can be stopped simply by letting go of the victim to leave them old and crippled, or simply dead." The Jounin and Hokage were shocked. That was one _really_ nasty sounding jutsu.

"However, it can also be reversed. When this version is used, the target becomes younger. I actually wanted to try this technique on you Ojiisan, what with you being a wrinkled old prune and all. Are you interested?" He asked, watching the old man's face light up in happiness. "Excellent! You'll want to hold still for a moment…" Naruto trailed off as he formed the seals: Jackal, Kappa, Angel, Griffin, and Phoenix.

"Karitepo: Otoukooya Jikoku no jutsu: Sakasa!" Naruto commanded, as he placed his glowing hand over the Hokage's head. Sarutobi's face began to change rapidly. After about five seconds, Naruto released him, and the Hokage's head flew backwards. When he regained his composure, everyone gasped.

The Sandaime Hokage was young again. His wild hair and beard were a dark grey, almost black. Most of the wrinkles had gone from his face, as with the age spots. He was taller now as well. He now stood slightly shorter than his son, Asuma. He also had regained some of the muscle that he had had in his youth. Naruto grinned.

"Well, there ya go Ojiisan; one extreme ninja makeover. If I had to guess, I'd say you are about forty now." Naruto commented, handing him his little pocket mirror. The Hokage looked into the mirror and a huge grin split his face.

"Thank you Naruto-kun. However, there are some other issues we must address…"

For the next half hour, Naruto explained to the Hokage what he had done with the other teams. He offered Asuma a couple of solutions to avoid the vision that he had. Asuma agreed on the option of Naruto giving him a special Yomigaeri Fuin that would bring him back once, but no more. He deliberately left out the part where he had given Kurenai the Narakugan, and just told them that he had 'persuaded' Hinata's father to treat her better. Kurenai also confirmed that she had introduced Hinata to Anko. Kakashi didn't really say anything, just reminding him about the test tomorrow. With everything said and done, the three Jounins poofed away. Naruto looked at the Hokage.

"Anything else you need Ojiisan?" Naruto asked. The now younger Hokage thought.

"Yes, there is actually. How did you 'persuade' Hinata's father to treat her better?" The Hokage asked with a shrewd look in his eye. Naruto sighed.

"I triggered my Reaper form, and threatened him." Naruto snickered audibly. Sarutobi frowned. "What's so funny about threatening a Hyuuga, Naruto-kun?" He asked.

"The look on his face was absolutely priceless when I told him that souls tasted good with ketchup." Naruto began to laugh at this point. Sarutobi joined in.

"That's actually a fact, Ojiisan." Naruto stated. The Hokage stopped laughing. "I'm serious! A soul with ketchup on it tastes better than ramen." Sarutobi was shocked.

"Shinigami had you take people's souls while training you?" He whispered.

"Yup. I didn't say I liked it though." Naruto replied, a forlorn look in his eye. "I would never take a person's soul from them unless they were intending to kill me. You don't have to worry about me just going around and wrenching random villagers' souls out or anything like that." Naruto reassured the now not-so-old man. Sarutobi's mouth quirked ever so slightly.

"I will take your word for it, Naruto-kun. I advise that you go and rest up. If I know Kakashi-kun and his survival tests, you're in for a hell of a day tomorrow."

"Care to give an unofficial grandson a few tips?" Naruto asked the old man hopefully. Sarutobi chuckled at his unofficial grandson's curiosity.

"I can tell you this; an apple doesn't roll when it is not whole." Naruto scowled.

"Cryptic messages are my thing, you senile old prune." He muttered under his breath, causing the Hokage to chuckle. Assuming the old man wouldn't talk, Naruto hopped on Kyuubi's back and rode out of the Hokage tower.

Out in the street, Naruto pondered as to what the old man had said to him. A wonderful distraction came in the form of a beautiful Inuzuka girl.

"Naruto!" Hana called, jogging to catch up to him. Naruto leaned back on Kyuubi, effectively telling the fox to stop. He turned to the girl, smiling.

"Hello Hana. How are you doing?" Naruto asked, jumping off of the fox. Hana smiled at the blonde's selflessness. For some strange reason she felt a warm, tingly sensation in her chest when she talked to him.

"I'm feeling much better, thanks to you." She replied. Naruto was uncomfortable, judging from the movements in his… _attractive_ body.

"Hana, will you walk with me for a moment or two? I'd like some company for a little bit, if you don't mind." Naruto asked, quieting slightly near the end. Hana was feeling a little squeamish around the younger boy. She was starting to wonder if she was getting attracted to him. She quickly banished these thoughts.

"Sure I'll walk with you." She replied, taking her spot at Naruto's side. For a few moments, they walked in silence, enjoying the other's company.

"Did you get put on a Genin team today Naruto?" Hana asked. Naruto grumbled.

"Unfortunately, yes. I got paired with the queen of the Uchiha Fan Club and Uchiha-teme himself." Naruto stuck out his tongue. Hana grimaced, remembering meeting the brooding prick once: She immediately hated his guts.

"But I did meet the other teams I'm going to be competing against. You wouldn't happen to have a relative by the name of Kiba, would you?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, he's my younger brother. Why do you ask?" Hana looked at him curiously. Naruto began to snicker quietly.

"Oh, no reason at all. I just handed his ass to him on a silver platter earlier today!" He began to laugh a little louder. Hana began to smile amusedly.

"How badly did you beat him?" She asked. This was certainly blackmail material.

"He couldn't lay a hand on me, and he was going all out. He used the Juujin Bunshin and Shikyaku no jutsu on me and I just beat him with the Karyuu Endan." Hana was now chuckling, with a predatory grin on her face.

"Well, that's definitely a good thing; Kiba was always a bit of an egotistical asshole." She admitted. Naruto smiled at her description.

"Actually Naruto, I want to know how I can thank you for saving me yesterday." Hana added, with a tiny blush. Naruto was doing the same thing. Thoughts were running through his mind at the speed of sound.

'_Should I ask her out on a date? Or would she think I'm some sort of pervert? C'mon Reaper boy, THINK! Yesnoyesnoyesnoyes…no…yes! Okay, concentrate Naruto. Just grit your teeth and do it!'_

"Um… Hana, tomorrow after I pass the Genin survival test… Would you like to get some dinner with me?" Naruto quieted slightly near the end. Hana was now almost as red as a tomato. Did she reject him and crush his heart, or did she give in to her feelings and say yes to her saviour?

"Naruto… I… Yes, I'll go on a date with you." She almost felt like it wasn't her that was saying the words, but she didn't regret it when his handsome/cute face lit up with an adorable smile. Hana couldn't help but smile as well.

"Domo arigatou, Hana-chan. There's a nice new place that's down on Godiame Street that I could get us in to. You'd kinda have to dress up a little bit though. What do you think?" Hana was a little surprised; it was almost as though Naruto had planned this. This surprise just increased when she realized that he called her Hana-_chan_.

"I think it sounds great Naruto-kun. Can you pick me up around seven-thirty?" She asked him, still grinning.

"Sure! I'll see you then, Hana-chan!" He stood on his toes, and kissed her on the cheek. Afterwards, he almost seemed to jump onto Kenshiki and flee in shock. She simply stood there, touching the spot where his lips had touched her cheek, pondering over the strange feeling that she got when she was around the younger boy.

'_I wonder… Could this be love?'

* * *

_

**Well, there ya go; Chapter 4! Leave a review for me.**

**Translations:**

"Kashaku Fuin"- Torture Seal (I just thought of that on the spot for Hidan's curse)

"Kuchiyose: Rashomon: Kaiho"- Summoning Art: Rashomon Gate: Open

"Jujin Bunshin"- Beast Human Clone

"Shikyaku no jutsu"- Four Legs Technique

"Katon: Karyuu Endan"- Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Missile

"Narakugan"- Hell's Eye

"Hakke Sanjunisho"- Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms

"Kaze no Yaiba"- Blade of Wind

"Kuchiyose no jutsu"- Summoning Technique

Tempestas (Naruto's dragon summon)- Wind

"_Valde res of Ultra, vigoratus is patientia animus. Sino suus poena futurus nisus, quod commodo mihi vestri vox"_- (Latin) Great Beings of the Beyond, heal this suffering soul. Allow his pain to be ended, and lend me your power.

"Karitepo: Otoukooya Jikoku no jutsu: Sakasa"- Reaper's Art: Father Time Technique: Reverse.

**Well, there ya go. Sorry about the wait, this chapter is 30 pages long, with 14, 468 words. Again, R&R!**

_**Dirty Reid**_


	5. Tests and Dates

_**The Reaper's Art**_

_**Chapter 5: Tests and Dates**_

**Dirty Reid**

**A.N: Sorry it took so long to update the last chapter and this one. Here are some translations that I missed in the last 2 chapters:**

Wakarimasu ka (Ch.3) - Do you understand?

Do itashimashite (Ch.4) - Think nothing of it.

Yomigaeri Fuuin (Ch. 4) - Resurrection Seal

**Anyways, on with the tale!**

"**Summon Boss Talking" **

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Ghost Rider.

* * *

Naruto was awoken from his sweet slumber by an incessant beeping. Reaching out, he slammed the 'off' button on his alarm clock. This action had awoken Kyuubi, who opened his mouth and yawned. Naruto cringed at the horrible breath of his fox. Throwing the new comforter off of him (Naruto bought some stuff the day before), he crawled out of bed and stretched his legs and arms. Smacking his lips together, he walked into the small kitchen and started to make breakfast. He cracked six eggs into a frying pan, along with eight sausages. As the delicious aroma of breakfast wafted through the apartment, Naruto started to gather several things he believed would be necessary for the test today. He stuffed his holster with shuriken and kunai, placing a couple of explosive tags inside as well. If there was one thing Naruto had learned in his ninja training, it was this; there is no such thing as being an over-prepared assassin.

The scent of his breakfast smelled just right, so Naruto began to chow down. Of course, he gave three eggs and four sausages to Kyuubi. Eating a big breakfast before a mission where physical exertion was to be expected was not the wisest thing to do. That thought suddenly gave Naruto another brainwave. Going to his fruit dish, he pulled out two apples. Knowing Sakura's goody-goody attitude, she probably wouldn't have even thought about _looking _at food this morning, let alone eating. Unsurprisingly, Sasuke had a one-track mind that was set on revenge. Naruto was pretty sure his brooding would deter him from eating breakfast.

Feeling satisfied with his arsenal, Naruto formed a ram seal which added twenty-five pounds of weight to his body. He was getting too adept with just 150 pounds. Grunting under the strain, Naruto held out his hand and called Jakyo to him. The scythe jumped to the hand of its master, and Naruto strolled out the door with the small yellow fox that was Kyuubi. He was no more than five steps out of the door when he realized his blunder; he had eaten breakfast. For a moment, his id quarreled with his superego, trying to make it see that eating was probably a better idea than going berserk on an empty stomach. Eventually, his id won the fight. Smiling, Naruto began his trek to Training Ground 24. Along the way, he received the usual glares and whispers. Growing fed up with it, Naruto chanelled some power into his ring and changed his shirt. It was now a plain black shirt that read on both sides _'KISS MY ASS, MOTHERFUCKERS!'_ This got looks of disgust and shock from the villagers. Naruto chuckled evilly when some still looked at him in anger. This, naturally, caused them to flee in terror. Deciding he'd had enough, Naruto picked up Kyuubi, wrapped him around his neck, and made a mad dash for the training ground.

* * *

At training ground 24, Sasuke and Sakura were already there and waiting. Sasuke was (naturally) brooding, and trying to figure out who would have information of the likes that Naruto had shown. Sakura was fervently trying to get Sasuke to notice her, but to no avail. Both of them heard a rustling noise to their left, and Naruto stepped out of the bushes. The two other Genin raised their eyebrows in surprise; Naruto had changed his wardrobe again. Today, he was wearing a set of slightly baggy black cargo pants with a lot of bulging pockets. On his upper half, he was wearing an almost form-fitting black shirt. The image upon it was a purple rose with something that looked suspiciously like rivulets of blood dripping from it. Ever unchanging was his red scythe, and his small yellow fox. Naruto's look for the day said: 'I'm in a bad mood, piss off.'

"How ya doin', amigos?" Naruto asked, sitting down next to the two other members of his team. They looked confused.

"What does 'amigos' mean, Naruto?" Sakura asked, eyebrow up. Although he didn't show it, Sasuke was rather interested in what the strange word meant as well.

"It means 'friends' in Spanish, a language of the far west." Naruto explained shortly. Sakura seemed satisfied with the explanation. Sasuke, however, wasn't.

"Why would you need to know a foreign language?" He asked, _almost_ disinterestedly. Naruto turned to Sasuke and gave him a rather calculating look.

"I know them because I've been fascinated by foreign languages for some time now. In addition, several of the Fuuinjutsu and Rituals I was taught are in foreign languages. It kinda helps to know them so one can do the techniques." Naruto explained. Sasuke looked like he was fighting the urge to say something. Naruto just turned away and started to wait. About ten minutes passed before Naruto drifted off to sleep. Kakashi arrived to meet his team about two hours later. This, of course, got a negative rise out of two of the Genin. Only one voiced their opinion though.

"Yo." Was his nonchalant greeting to his pissed off pupils.

"YOU'RE LATE!" cried the pink-haired kunoichi. Kyuubi covered his ears with his paws. **"Damn banshee." **The fox muttered. Naruto grumbled in annoyance as he was roused from his slumber.

"Sorry, I got lost on the road of life." Was the Jounin's lame excuse for his late arrival. Naruto sweatdropped, but snickered as well. Sakura looked more pissed, and Sasuke was irritated. "LIAR!" she screamed at him. Kakashi shrugged.

"Whatever. Okay, time for the survival test." Kakashi pulled out two small bells. "Your goal is simple; collect a bell. Those who do will pass the test. The one who doesn't will be tied to this post (Kakashi indicated said post) and sent back to the Academy."

"Be warned, this test has a 66.6 percent failure rate. So either come at me to kill, or go home." Kakashi looked at his pupils. Sasuke was looking determined and angsty. Sakura looked rater nervous and confused. Kakashi frowned when he looked at Naruto's calm face.

"Oh, and you may not use 'companions' _or_ summons for this challenge. This is a test to assess your own skills. Using either of the aforementioned aids would be cheating." Kakashi grinned under his mask as Naruto's calm look wavered slightly. Sasuke and Sakura understood the part about Naruto's fox companion, but _summoning_? That was a Jounin level jutsu! Sasuke grew enraged when he realized what Kakashi was insinuating: Naruto knew the Kuchiyose no jutsu. _How_ was the question that made him really mad.

'_This baka knows how to summon? HOW?!? How does he know all of these powerful jutsu?? I swear to Kami-sama I WILL know your secrets Uzumaki Naruto; one way… Or another, I WILL learn them.'_ Was the thought that went through the last loyal Uchiha's head. All three of the students stood and readied themselves. Kyuubi, seeing that he would not be needed, found a comfortable spot and settled down for a nap.

"You have until noon to acquire a bell." Kakashi stated as he wound an alarm clock and set it down on a rock. "Hajime!" He shouted. Sasuke and Sakura immediately disappeared into the foliage. Naruto, however, stayed rooted to the spot.

'_The tardy teme is leaving something out; I'm sure of it. What did Ojiisan say… "An apple does not roll when it isn't whole"? Yeah, that's it. It sounds like he meant the three Genin. Put all of us together, and we are a team; a complete apple. Kakashi-sensei is a Jounin, and we are Genin. One of us would not be able to take him on alone… based on the assumption that they aren't me… So I guess that means we'd have to… YES! I've got it!'_ This was the thought that ran through the demigod's head. Kakashi looked up from the orange book he was reading.

"Are you just going to stand there all day Naruto?" he asked. Naruto looked at him.

"You're a sly dog, you know that sensei?" Naruto asked. Kakashi looked confused.

"Teamwork is the true meaning of the test; you deliberately left it out for us to try and figure out, didn't you?" Naruto stated. Kakashi's eye held surprise before it curved into an upside-down U, indicating that the Jounin was smiling.

"Very good Naruto. You have succeeded in 'looking underneath the underneath'" Kakashi said, with a small amount of praise in his voice before he turned back to his book. Naruto grinned to himself before stepping into a nearby shadow, forming some seals (Dragon, Monkey, Rat), and disappearing with a puff of eerie black smoke and a bang (**A.N.: For those who are curious, Naruto's Kage Shunshin looks like Nightcrawler from X2 teleporting.)**. Kakashi made a note to copy or learn that jutsu at some point.

* * *

Naruto reappeared in a thicket in the forest. Looking around, he couldn't see much through the brush. Fortunately, he had a solution. He ran through the seals Kappa, Jackal, Hydra, Nemea, Griffin, Demon, Jackal, and Angel.

"Karitepo: Seirei Genzo!" He whispered. His eyes began to glow a very pale blue, almost white. What he was seeing was truly bewildering: Except for white outlines signifying objects or indentations in them, most things in his field of vision were black. But using this jutsu, Naruto was able to see any living being. Said beings emitted a whitish-blue aura, these auras being their souls. Shinigami had told him a few things when he learned this jutsu: Normal beings' souls were the whitish-blue that he was seeing right now in the insects, birds, and creatures beneath the soil. The intensity of their auras varied, depending on the strength of their soul: Weak souls had a weak aura, and vice versa. The second class of souls was the Guardians, and the Relics. The Guardians were usually seen as nature and slightly abnormal wildlife to the naked eye. What the Guardians did was keep the balance of life and death in moderation: If life was growing stronger than what the Heavens had intended, the Guardians would impede the growth until the power of life receded back to its balancing point. If the power of death began to strengthen by any means such as deforestation, the Relics would send the Guardians to defeat the aggressors by any means possible. This usually meant that the Guardians would reveal their true forms and defeat the potential death harbingers with aggression.

The Relics were simply the bosses of the Guardians. They were called Relics because they had existed since ancient humans roamed the earth. When revealed, they looked similar to the Guardians, but _way_ bigger and slightly mutilated. The Kyuubi had told Naruto that he was one of the Relics when Shinigami had been explaining what the different auras signified. The Guardians' auras varied in colour, but were usually green, yellow or blue, and mixed with the colour of their Relic's. The Relic's aura was the reverse; their Guardian soldiers' secondary colour as their primary colour, and the Guardians' primary colour as their secondary.

The third class of souls was the Great Ones. These beings were usually gods or ghosts. There were occasionally exceptions to this, one example being the Oracle. The Oracle was something of a cross between a Relic and a Great One. Naruto had never seen the aura of one of the Great Ones, but their auras were usually pure white with a very slight tint of blue. The Oracle's aura was supposed to be white with a tiny shade of green. Finally, there were the Corrupts. These beings could be anything from humans to demons. The thing that they all had in common was that they had auras that went through the spectrum of red, and ended at black; signifying the fallen ones. Kyuubi was an example of both a Relic and a Corrupt. Just thinking about all of this information was making Naruto's brain ache. Shaking his head, he scanned the area. The area was devoid of any significant souls, except for a couple of Guardian trees. Naruto was surprised that there were that few Guardians in such a large forest. He didn't have time to ponder upon the situation as he saw the aura with a distinct outline of his Uchiha teammate. Naruto deactivated the Seirei Genzou, not wanting Sasuke to get jealous and demand to be taught the jutsu. Naruto strode up behind him, and crouched down beside him.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked in a bored voice. _'Damn anti-social types'_

"I just thought that you'd want to know that the real purpose of this test is to test our skills as a _team_. Meaning we'd have to work _together_ to get the bells." Naruto said. Sasuke snorted. "I don't need you to get those bells. Teammates just hold me back." He arrogantly proclaimed. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Fine, whatever you say. Go knock yourself out Uchiha. After you get your ass whipped, I'll meet you by the Academy repeaters classroom waiting to say 'I told you so'." Naruto warned, nonchalantly. Sasuke glared at him before he took off. Naruto rolled his eyes, and set off to find Sakura. It didn't take a lot of searching to spot the well-groomed head of pink hair of the Haruno girl amongst the sea of green. Naruto made his presence known to the girl who looked at him with a scowl.

"What do you want Naruto-baka?" she spat out. Naruto feigned a hurt face.

"And to think, I was just about to tell you the way to pass this test. Oh well, your failure." Naruto said more to himself. Sakura looked confused.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, head cocked to the side.

"The bells are used to divide us. Why do you think that we were placed on a team of three? This test was designed to assess our skills working together. None of us could beat a Jounin individually. Not even your 'precious' Sasuke" Naruto explained. Sakura had a look of comprehension creep over her cute face after a moment.

"It all makes sense now," she whispered. She looked at Naruto. "What do we do?" she asked. Naruto grinned. _'That was easy.'_ He thought.

"Well first, we'll have to find Sasuke. He didn't listen to me, and he's probably getting his ass handed to him right now." As if on cue, a yell of "Doton: Shinju Zanshu no jutsu!" was heard, accompanied by a cry of shock, and multiple curses. Naruto snickered at Sakura's scared face as he beckoned her to follow him. Moments later, they came upon the sight of Sasuke buried up to his head in the earth.

"Sasuke-kun! Are you okay?" Sakura asked frantically. Naruto rolled his eyes as he started digging Sasuke out of the ground. The Uchiha was looking rather pissed that he was being dug out of the ground.

"_Now_ will you work with us you stuck up ass wipe?" Naruto growled. Sasuke reluctantly nodded with a glare. Being buried was a huge blow to his pride. He would do anything to accomplish his ambition, even if it meant listening to this enigma that was his blonde teammate. Sasuke sighed.

"Here, eat these." Naruto pulled out the two apples he had and handed them to his two teammates. They both snatched them away and began to eat away at them. Within at least ten seconds, the cores were chucked into the bush. Sasuke stared at Naruto.

"What's the plan?" he asked. Naruto closed his eyes and thought for a minute. He grinned evilly when he opened his eyes.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do: Sasuke, you and I are going to drive Kakashi back towards the brush in the clearing he's standing in nearby. Once he's close to them, Sakura will jump out and snag the bells under the cover of a genjutsu. Got it?" Naruto's teammates were surprised; Naruto's plan was simple, but it would be effective if it was carried out correctly. Naruto seemed to be forgetting something.

"Oh, just for caution, you're going to want to transfer some chakra to your eyes because I'm going to be using a special stealth jutsu that'll help us out a little bit. This particular jutsu impedes your sight quite effectively when used properly." Sasuke looked a little intrigued, and Sakura looked confused.

"What jutsu is it that you're going to be using to cover us Naruto?" Sasuke asked. Naruto simply grinned at him before standing up and forming several hand seals.

"Kirigakure no jutsu!" he called.

* * *

Kakashi was casually standing in a secluded clearing while reading his Icha Icha Paradise book. He hadn't heard anything from his team since he had buried Sasuke into the ground about ten minutes ago. He was sure that he would fail this team as well, with them going for the approach of not listening to Naruto and coming after him themselves; the typical approach of his past teams. Kakashi thought this would be a rather boring morning.

That is, until the mist started to roll in.

Slightly perturbed, Kakashi placed his book back into the 'smut pouch' on his Jounin flak jacket. The fact that one of his students knew Kirigakure no jutsu was rather interesting, and Kakashi had a pretty good idea of who it was. Sliding into a loose fighting stance, Kakashi prepared himself for the coming assault; this would be quite interesting. Almost as if on cue, six or seven kunai whizzed out of the mist. Kakashi barely managed to dodge the kunai, and one of them nicked his sleeve. Looking to the direction that the kunai had come from, he saw Naruto charging at him. But something was wrong; Naruto was moving way too fast for anyone his age should go. Kakashi had to stop thinking before Naruto threw a palm strike at him… wait, a _palm strike_? It suddenly occurred to Kakashi that Naruto was using a foreign fighting style. It wasn't choppy or brutish either; all of his movements just seemed to flow into one another. Kakashi found himself hard pressed to keep up with the blonde's movements, as he couldn't predict what Naruto would do next. He was reaching up to uncover his left eye when he felt Naruto give a spear thrust to his stomach. Winded slightly, Kakashi jumped backwards.

"Not bad Naruto, you actually managed to hit me. None of my Genin has done that since…ever." Naruto smirked at the compliment.

"But seeing as you got a hit on me, it's time to get serious. Katon: Hosenka no jutsu!" Kakashi called as he 'spat' out a dozen fireballs at the blonde ninja. To Kakashi's surprise, Naruto performed a series of astonishing acrobatics and dodged all of the fireballs. Naruto began forming a set of seals for an unfamiliar jutsu.

"Katon: Tajuu Kafushicho Hogeki!" Naruto took a deep breath and exhaled multiple fireballs that looked like large falcons. Kakashi moved to avoid them, but was shocked when Naruto pointed at Kakashi and cried "Get him!" and the projectiles began to follow him. Jumping backwards, Kakashi felt his foot become wet in the river behind him.

"Suiton: Teppodama!" He called and several large bullets of water rose up and moved to intercept the phoenix-shaped projectiles. Kakashi's eye widened in shock when his water bullets met Naruto's fire phoenixes; the collision caused the fiery projectiles to blow up with the force of around a dozen explosive tags.

'_This kid's really trying to KILL me!'_ Kakashi thought. No sooner had he finished that thought when he sensed a presence behind him. Kakashi barely managed to duck Sasuke's flying kick. Not willing to be outdone, the Uchiha twisted around, seals forming in a very familiar pattern.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!" Sasuke shouted as the immense fireball flew at Kakashi.

"Suiton: Suijinheki!" A large wall of water rose up and protected the Jounin from Sasuke's attack. Kakashi was feeling confident until Naruto announced his jutsu.

"Kaze no Zanbato!" was the name of the jutsu that sliced a huge rift in the wall of water. Kakashi backed away as his two male students launched a barrage of taijutsu and foreign combat moves at him.

'_The boys are putting up a good fight, but where did Sakura get to?'_ The cyclops thought. As if Kami-sama himself was cursing him, Kakashi felt something brush against his leg accompanied by a ringing sound. Looking down, Kakashi noted the absence of the two bells. In that crucial half second, he felt two kunai and a larger blade against him; one at his heart, one at his carotid artery, and the blade at his solar plexus. Looking up, he saw the boys and the now visible Sakura grinning at him. Kakashi's eye formed an upside down U shape.

"Congratulations! You… Are the first Genin that I have _ever_ passed on this test. Very well done you three!" Kakashi said jovially. Sasuke smirked, Sakura smiled widely, and Naruto had a great big Cheshire grin on his face as he removed his scythe.

"Okay, it's time for a critique on your skills. Sasuke, your taijutsu is very good, and you demonstrated an impressive use of the Gokakyu no jutsu. Your problem is your reluctance to work with your teammates. I'm assuming that you only worked with them after they pulled you out of the ground?" Sasuke glared at Kakashi before nodding. "You are going to have to work on that. A very close friend of mine once told me this: 'Those who do not follow the rules are trash. But those who abandon their friends and team are worse than trash.' Take these words to heart you three; saving your friends is much more important than completing a mission."

"Sakura, I didn't see your skills but I'm assuming that that genjutsu was your own?" Sakura nodded. "Well, it was a good one. Not to weak so that anyone could see through it, but strong and subtle." Sakura was beaming.

"Naruto, you surprised me. Your fighting style caught me completely off guard. However, I would like you to tell me about the jutsus you used." Naruto sighed.

"Well, where do I begin? When I was on my training trip, my master and I got into a little scuffle with Kurosuki Raiga of the Mist's Seven Swordsmen. I managed to pull off a couple of crafty little tricks, thereby defeating him. Raiga was impressed and agreed to teach me a couple of jutsu. One of them was Kirigakure no jutsu. The others were Raiton techniques and some basic kenjutsu. The Tajuu Kafushicho Hogeki is a variant on the Hosenka no jutsu that I invented. It's essentially the same thing, but requires a lot more chakra for the bombs to be effective. The other version, the Kyosei Kafushicho Hogeki just makes one big bomb with the explosive strength of five of the little ones. The Tajuu is probably B-rank, and the Kyosei hovers between B and A-rank. The Kaze no Zanbatou is just a bigger version of the Kaze no Yaiba and is a lot more effective. The only drawback is the chakra control it takes." Naruto looked and saw five wide eyes staring at him. "What?" he asked.

"You got a member of the _Mist's Seven Swordsmen_ to train you?" Sakura gasped. "Nobody in Konoha will probably ever be able to boast that one Naruto." Sasuke was looking extremely jealous and angry. Naruto sighed.

"Okay, what's got your kunai in a knot now, Uchiha?" Naruto drawled out.

"How the hell did you learn and come up with all of those powerful jutsu? And more importantly, how the _fuck_ did you get _Kurosuki Raiga_ of all people to train you?" he growled out. Naruto gave a very cold, but calm look to the seething boy.

"It's quite simple Sasuke; I am not like you. I do not treat everyone who I think s beneath me like absolute trash. As for how I got Raiga to train me, well, it was more persuasion and blackmail than defeating him in a fight. When we were fighting, I managed to get him hung up in a tree with his pants off. Who would've thought an S-class swordsman would wear pink underwear with little piglets on it? I said to him if he didn't teach me something, I'd post the photos I took of him all over Kiri. Naturally, Raiga gave in and agreed to teach me." Naruto was snickering at this point. Although he knew it was a lie, Kakashi was smiling and tittering slightly at Naruto's story.

"Where did you learn that fighting style Naruto? I've never seen a taijutsu style like that before in my life!" Sakura quipped. Sasuke was watching the blonde intently.

"That, Sakura, was Shao Lin Kung Fu. A Chinese fighting style that uses moves that just flow into one another. Although they're somewhat weak, the speed of the strikes makes up for it. Oh, and don't bother trying to copy it Kakashi-sensei. I have a special seal on me that will nullify the Sharingan's effect of being able to copy moves and track fast-moving objects." Naruto coolly stated. Kakashi, who up until a second ago had a strange twinkle in his eye upon receiving knowledge of Naruto's Kung Fu fighting style, let his head drop slightly. Sasuke looked absolutely furious.

"Where did you get a Nullifier?" He whispered. Sasuke's jealousy of the blonde was growing intensely, along with a strong desire to prove his superiority.

"That is for me to know, and you to go insane trying to figure out." Naruto answered with a nasty grin. The mist was starting to clear out, and Naruto heard a faint pattering sound. Looking to his right, he saw the chibi-Kyuubi running towards him.

"**How'd it go brat?"** the fox asked. Naruto scowled a little bit.

'_I passed you little shrimp.'_ Naruto snapped back. The fox growled. _'Anyways, we need to get to a secluded part of Konoha; I'm going to try and summon the Ryuujin.'_

"**No problem; I know just the place."** Kyuubi answered his question. Naruto fed Kyuubi some chakra and he became his stallion size again. Jumping up onto Kyuubi, he turned to his teammates and sensei. "Anything else you want to tell me before I go Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. Meet me at the Hokage's office tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM so we can receive our first mission." Kakashi replied. Naruto nodded in understanding, and took off into the now weak veil of mist. Watching him go, Sasuke suddenly remembered something that Naruto had said about the Sharingan. He whipped around and glared at his sensei.

"What's this about you having the Sharingan sensei?!" The Uchiha demanded.

* * *

Now in the secluded part of Konoha, Naruto took a moment to admire the wonderful place: It was a large freshwater lagoon with pristine waters, almost smooth with the absence of the morning breeze. The eastern half was overlooked by a large cliff with a beautiful waterfall dividing it. Naruto made a note to remember this place whenever he wanted some peace and quiet.

"**Stop daydreaming kit! I'm looking forward to a little reunion with that big, scaly Eki-teme." **Said Kyuubi, impatiently. Naruto rolled his eyes. Gathering a huge amount of chakra, he formed the seals for the jutsu.

"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!" Naruto yelled. An enormous explosion of smoke came forth, and Naruto was thrust up into the air. The smoke cleared, and Naruto looked down with a gasp. The dragon that he was standing on had to be at least 120 metres tall. The enormous black and grey creature looked a little more like a tyrannosaurus than a dragon. The beast stood on two large back legs, but its arms were large enough so that it could use them in combat. Its head was shaped somewhat like a box from the side, but a triangle from over top or underneath. From snout to tail, the dragon had to be at least 200 metres long. A set of enormous spines rose from the beast's shoulders but became drastically smaller as they came closer to the tail. Just below the two spines were the dragon's colossal, leathery, black wings. Naruto was pretty sure that if Gojira flapped them, he could blow away a good chunk of Konoha. Gojira's thundering voice disrupted his musings.

"**Why have you brought me here, hatchling? There is no immediate danger in this area."** Gojira's voice thundered in Naruto's ears. Shaking his head, he jumped onto Gojira's large snout. The dragon's two metre high orange eyes stared at him.

"Forgive me for disturbing you Gojira-sama, but I simply wished to summon you in an attempt to test my powers and request that I be allowed to ask for your assistance should I need help in battle." Naruto stated politely, with a bow. By the way Gojira's eyes moved and the way his enormous jaws curved, Naruto could tell that he was grinning.

"**I don't even know you, but I like you already Naruto."** The Ryuujin let out a booming chuckle as he saw the blonde's face contort in shock. **"Did you honestly think that Shinigami-sama would ask me to create a summoning contract for my species without telling him the name of the holder who happens to be his decchi?"** Naruto thought about it for a moment. "No, I suppose not." He replied to the dragon king.

"**Anyways, you are polite and my four times great grandson Tempestas has already put in a good word for you. However, I wish to tell you something; not all dragons breathe fire. As you already saw, Tempestas is a wind dragon, meaning he can spit out and control the wind. The water dragons can use both water and ice for their attacks. There are dragons that spit fire, I'll give you that. Then there are lightning dragons that can use electricity. There are also simply dragons that have no elemental control. The there are the odd ones like me. I am able to roar and move huge amounts of air, decimating anything in my path. But I also have control over the five elements that I told you about earlier. Even though you were slightly insensitive to Tempestas, I accept you as my subordinate and will allow you to summon me when needed. As a side note, a different elemental dragon will appear depending upon the situation or whichever element you nee to use."** Gojira sucked in a breath. Naruto smiled, but remembered something. He jumped off of the Ryuujin's head, swung off his arm, and slid down his leg. Gojira looked down at him in confusion. Naruto began transferring a huge amount of chakra to the horse-sized fox he was sitting on. The fox steadily grew and grew until it was just slightly shorter than Gojira. Looking behind him, Naruto noted the three tails protruding from Kyuubi's behind.

"**Well, well; long time no see Kyuubi."** Gojira growled amusedly. He grinned in a rather feral manner at the enormous orange fox that was facing him. Kyuubi mirrored the dragon's grin.

"**Indeed it has Gojira. How long has it been, almost five hundred years? You haven't changed one bit."** The fox replied.

"**Wait a minute, last I heard, you had been defeated and your soul sealed away. How are you able to be corporeal?"** Gojira asked, confused.

"**Long story short, Shinigami partially undid the seal binding me to the kit. This allowed me to manifest as a flesh being, but the brat controls how much power I get."** Said the fox, with an irritated undertone to his voice.

"**I see. Well hatchling, if you don't need me further, I'll be off. Farewell!"** Gojira disappeared in an enormous blast of smoke. Naruto began sucking back Kyuubi's chakra and the fox began to shrink again. Back to his horse size, he turned to Naruto.

"**This would be a good place to alter your Reaper form, kit."** The fox stated.

'_Yeah, you're right. Do you have any ideas?'_ Naruto asked.

"**Actually, yes I do. The idea is based on a comic book invented about four hundred years ago. Its main character was a man who had sold his soul to the Devil in order to save someone he loved. When that person died, the one who had sold his soul accuse the Devil of killing his father. The Devil simply said that he owned the man's soul. In return for helping him, the Devil made the man his bounty hunter and promised to give his soul back if he did what the Devil asked. This man was called the Ghost Rider. I'll send you an image…"** Kyuubi trailed off. A vision suddenly appeared in Naruto's head. It was a figure dresses in black leather pants and jacket with large spines on the shoulders. Black gloves adorned the figure's hands which sported large spikes around the wrist and knuckles. What freaked the blonde ninja out was that the person wearing the clothing was a flaming skeleton with glowing red eye sockets. Wrapped around the skeleton like a sash was a huge battle chain. The figure uncoiled it with a yank and the pointed end flew at him. The vision ended in a white flash. Naruto stumbled for a second as the real world came back into focus.

'_SUGOI! That was so cool!!!' How do I trigger my Reaper form Kyuubi?' _Naruto asked, bouncing up and down in excitement. Kyuubi chuckled at Naruto's jumpiness.

"**It's simple, really. You have to think of something that makes you angry."** The fox explained. **"Once you've done that, call the ideal Reaper form to your mind and you will look like the form you're thinking of."** Said the fox. Naruto closed his eyes and recalled one of the many beatings he had endured. He felt the change coming on, and called the Ghost Rider's image to his mind. His body began to feel warm for a moment and the texture of his clothing changed. A moment later, the feeling vanished. Naruto opened his eyes and saw the change in outfit. Running over to the water, he heard the clunking of heavy boots. He looked at his reflection and gasped; his face had been replaced by a skull, orange flames blazing. Naruto fumbled with the zipper and pulled it down to reveal that the rest of his body was also a flaming skeleton.

"**Now THIS is some awesome shit!"** Naruto's voice had changed to a deep rumble that shook his bones. **"I wonder…"** He reached down and started to pull on his left arm. With a loud _POP_ it snapped off, but Naruto felt no pain. Bringing it back up, he felt his arm reconnect. Naruto then pulled his head off, and reattached it.

"**There you go kit; one invincible Reaper form. However, we need to get out of here. One, I'm sure that the ANBU are on their way from the summoning and me. Two, you're still missing the battle chain."** Said Kyuubi. Naruto deactivated his Reaper form and jumped on the fox. Barely a moment after he rode away, two four-man ANBU teams showed up at the scene. What they saw was surprising: it looked like some sort of colossal bipedal reptile had been standing on the shore near the lagoon with a giant quadruped that had padded feet of about the same size. Looking closer to the lagoon, the ground appeared to be scorched by large footprints which vanished after two strides from the lagoon. This was going to take one _hell_ of a lot of paperwork.

* * *

As soon as he had reached the outskirts of the populated part of the village, Naruto got off Kyuubi, withdrew some of his chakra, and headed for the nearest weapons shop. Not wanting to be recognized as the 'Demon Brat' and thrown out (Not that he would _let_ the owners throw him out), he changed his outfit to a plain black shirt and pants with a dark navy blue duster cloak. Keeping his hood up, he strolled into the shop and looked around. The dimly lit shop had plain peach-coloured walls that were adorned with weapons of every variety. Intricate kunai sets, exotic shuriken, swords ranging from tanto to enormous zanbatou, clubs, whips, naginatas, everything Naruto could think of. A voice interrupted Naruto's observations of a hiltless sword with a thirty inch blade shaped like a kunai.

"Can I help you?" the voice was feminine, and very familiar. Turning to the counter, Naruto saw Tenten with a highly polished kunai in her hand. Naruto smiled.

"Good to see you again Tenten." He said as he pulled his hood down. She looked surprised for a moment before she smiled.

"Naruto! I didn't recognize you there for a moment. What can I help you with?" She asked. Naruto looked around the shop, hefting his ever present scythe.

"I'm looking for two things, actually. One, I'm looking for a new weapon to compliment a new fighting style I've taken up. Two, I came to uphold the promise of that weapon augmentation I asked you about." Tenten's eyes lit up in delight when she recalled the promise he had made to her.

"What kind of augmentation do you mean Naruto?" Tenten asked, starry-eyed.

"Well, it involves a fuinjutsu, a little blood sacrifice, and a Ritual; nothing particularly big. But first, I need to ask if you have the weapon I'm looking for." Naruto explained and asked with his eyebrows quirked.

"I'll help you as best I can. What kind of weapon are you looking for?" She asked.

"I'm looking for a big battle chain." Naruto answered. Tenten was curious.

"Why a battle chain, Naruto?" She asked, curiosity rocketing up. Naruto replied:

"I know a couple of jutsu that would work well with a chain to compliment them." Was his nonchalant answer to Tenten's question. Tenten nodded, seemingly satisfied.

"This way; we keep the rare weapons in the back." She motioned for him to follow her. She marched up to a door, produced a key and opened it. Inside the door was a very dim room. Tenten flipped a switch and the lighting increased. Looking at the walls, Naruto stared in awe at the exotic weapons on the walls. Odd curved swords, axes, crossbows, and something that looked suspiciously like a volley gun adorned the walls.

"Hey Naruto, is this what you're looking for?" Tenten's voice came. Looking to his right, he saw her holding a large chain. The links were about as large as three of his fingers pressed together. Near the end was a steel cylinder with a conical spike on the end of it. Perfect.

"Yes! That's absolutely perfect! May I see it?" He asked, and Tenten handed him the chain. It wasn't exactly light, but it wasn't heavy either. Looking at a hole in one of the blades of an axe on the wall, Naruto began to twirl the chain. Focusing on the little hole, he closed out his recognition of anything else he could sense; whether it was smell, taste, hearing or touch. Just as he felt as though he was getting tunnel vision, he stopped spinning the chain, and let it fly. With a loud _thunk_, the spike imbedded itself in the wall after passing straight through the hole in the axe, not even touching the blade's metal. Tenten's eyes almost popped out of her head.

"How did you do that?" She demanded as Naruto yanked the chain out of the wall.

"My master taught me that trick when I was learning the basics of being a ninja. What you have to do is shut out all other forms of perception and focus on your target. You cannot trust your smell, you cannot trust your hearing, you cannot trust your touch and taste; only your eyes. Beginners take about as long as I took right there. I can do this as an almost unconscious reflex and still feel the world around me. It took me almost a whole year to master. I could teach you that along with the Kurogane Renge if you want." Tenten's eyes were filled with happy tears. Suddenly, she rushed up and hugged him. Naruto was startled; he didn't know what to do so he hugged her back. After a moment, Naruto felt simply content to hold the cute bun-haired girl in his arms. His trip on Cloud Nine was interrupted by a wolf whistle.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Hey Naiya, Tenten's got herself a boyfriend!" said a voice from the doorway. Naruto turned his gaze to a man in his early to mid-thirties. He had a very dark caramel coloured hair and chocolate brown eyes like Tenten. He was relatively well built and was wearing a stained undershirt and plain black pants. The woman called 'Naiya' came rushing over to the man's side. She looked exactly like Tenten, but with a _much_ bigger bust and green eyes instead of brown. She smiled when she saw Tenten in an embrace with the strange boy in the blue cloak. Immediately, they both broke apart. Tenten blushed something fierce, as did the boy.

"So Tenten, please tell us; who is this charming young man whom you've chosen as a lover?" Naiya asked. The blonde boy said something that sounded like _'Loco Chiquita.' _(Whatever that meant) before Tenten spoke up.

"Uh, otou-san, kaa-san, this is Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto, these are my parents Tsukiakari Hagane and Naiya." Tenten introduced Naruto to her parents. Both of Tenten's parents' eyes widened slightly; they had heard that the blonde boy had been killed three years ago. Hagane had been a friend of the Yondaime Hokage, so he had nothing against the boy. Naiya shared this opinion. Neither of them knew him, but they were willing to give him a chance. Perhaps he would be a suitable boyfriend, unlike that arrogant Hyuuga boy Tenten had been lusting after for the last year or so.

"Nice to make your acquaintance, Naruto-kun." Naiya warmly greeted Naruto. She extended her graceful hand to shake his. To her surprise, Naruto took her hand and kissed it. She giggled, which made Hagane exude jealousy.

"Don't worry Hagane-san, I don't intend to try and steal your wife from you. Sure, I may like older women, but anyone more than ten years older- No matter how attractive- is my limit for girlfriend material." Said Naruto, grinning. Naiya and Tenten were both blushing profusely. Hagane was grinning with a little snicker.

"I'm holding you to that, Naruto. You didn't just come back here to make out with my daughter did you?" He asked with a grin on his face. Naruto grinned maniacally.

"Nah, I'd figure we'd just skip that and head straight to the Mile High Club, if ya know what I mean." Naruto replied, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively with a wink. Tenten was now slowly turning purple, and her parents were blushing at Naruto's implication. Naruto burst out laughing after about ten seconds of silence.

"Sorry, but your faces…" Naruto stopped to wheeze out another laugh. "That was priceless! Oh, and I thought making an Uchiha shit himself was the best thing that ever happened to me. Oh, remind me to call people's bluffs more often." After thelittle comment about Sasuke, _everyone_ started laughing. The four came back down to earth after about a moment.

"You came for a battle chain? Interesting choice Naruto-kun; not many people can master using one. What makes you think that you can?" Naiya asked him.

"I mastered Jakyo in a year; a battle chain's not gonna be a problem." Naruto bragged with a slightly arrogant pose.

"Actually, if it's okay with you, I was planning on enchanting one of Tenten's weapons as payment for the chain, if that's okay with you." Naruto asked. Hagane and Naiya's eyes widened.

"What kind of 'enchantments' are on the scythe?" Naiya asked.

"Nothing particularly special. I just put a Kanjoinyu Fuin, an integrated chakra system, and a Shoheki Fuin on it. I was thinking of putting a curse on it at some point, but I haven't had the time." Said Naruto. "What kind of weapon do you want me to enhance Tenten?" Naruto asked the wide-eyed girl.

"Uh… Just a katana will do, I guess." Tenten said with a shrug.

"Okay then; go get the katana you want while I get the monogram set up." Naruto ordered as he wrapped the battle chain around his body like a sash and marched out of the room. Tenten followed, but turned to the storage room instead of the shop. Inside the storage room, she picked out her favourite katana: It had a blood red sheath and hilt. The blade was black, and had the picture of a white Chinese dragon running down the blade. Unsure of what to expect, Tenten walked to the shop. Her eyes widened at the sight that greeted her. Naruto had moved all of the shelves and display cases off to the wall with a small group of Kage Bunshins and the original was finishing a complex looking seal in the middle of the floor. Sensing her, Naruto turned.

"Ah good, you're here. C'mere Tenten, there are a few things that need to be done before the ritual can be performed." Naruto beckoned her to join him in the trigram at the centre of the seal. Kneeling, he beckoned her to do the same.

"Okay, here's what you do. Cut yourself and let a little bit of blood trickle down the blade." Naruto handed her a kunai. Tenten made a long cut in one of her fingers, gasping slightly, and let a trickle of blood flow down the blade.

"Good. Now stick the sword into the ground in the centre of the trigram. Then kneel and place both of your hands on the butt of the handle." Naruto instructed. Tenten followed his orders; she kneeled in the centre, dug the blade into the ground. Naruto got up and out of the seal. Hagane and Naiya were both watching nervously. Naruto laid his hands on one of the lines on the outer part of the seal, and began to chant in an odd language:

"_Por el poder de la dioses, arrendar esto arma ascender hasta el imaginacion de la usario!" _(By the power of the gods, let this weapon ascend to the imagination of the user!) Naruto commanded. The immense monogram became an immense pillar of light with Tenten and the sword as a dark shadow floating in the centre. After a moment, the light faded out, and Tenten dropped to the ground, panting. After a moment, she looked at the weapon in her grasp and gasped.

Her katana had changed drastically. The handle had become straight, and the pommel was shaped like a roaring dragon with a white jewel in its mouth. The wrapping looked like iridescent black scales, and the guards looked like a pair of dragon wings. The blade was now double-sided. Looking closely, she saw thin indentations at regular intervals along the blade. Protruding from the centre of each segment was a red spine, one on each side of the blade. Naruto's eyebrows had shot up.

"Well, well, this is certainly interesting; a chain sword." He commented. Tenten looked rather confused at the mention of the weapon being a 'chain sword'.

"Transfer some chakra into it, and you'll see what I mean." Naruto told her. Tenten transferred some chakra into her sword, and the segments unlatched and fell limp, connected by a thin metal wire. Tenten's eyes widened.

"This is why it is called a chain sword. It can lengthen further when you pump more chakra into it. Or, you can reinforce it with your elemental chakra." Naruto explained. Tenten's smile distorted her face, it was so wide.

"Thank you Naruto, I really owe you one." She said to him with another hug which he returned. When she leaned away, he gave her a sexy, half-lidded look with a lazy smile and a wink. She shuddered unintentionally; Naruto really knew how to turn her on.

"Well, if that's all, I'll be going; I have a previous engagement." Naruto hefted Jakyo and walked out to his waiting fox. Tenten stared at him with dreamy eyes as he rode off into the afternoon light.

* * *

Hana was very nervous. It was 7:22, and she was starting to feel faint. Was she dressed up right? Would Naruto-kun like it? Would he think it was too reserved or to revealing? These were just a few of the questions that went through her mind as she stared at her reflection. She had put on a little bit of makeup; not a lot, but enough to accentuate her beauty. She had taken her hair out of its traditional ponytail, and had curled it into loose, shiny ringlets. She was wearing a midnight blue strapless dress that came down to just above her knees, showing off her long and elegant legs. She was wearing a set of shiny matching colour high heels to top off the ensemble. It was 7:28, and Hana was heading down to the front lobby to wait. Unfortunately, her annoying otouto intercepted her. Upon seeing her dressed up, he raised his eyebrows.

"What're you all dressed up for nee-chan?" He asked, with a bark from Akamaru.

"I've got a hot date tonight," Was all Hana told her little brother. Kiba whistled.

"This mystery date must be quite the guy, for you to dress up like that." He remarked casually. Hana had a dreamy smile on her face.

"What's going on here?" The brother-sister duo's mother, Inuzuka Tsume called to them. Tsume was a nice woman, but she had a very feral look to her. Her hair was spiky, she had long fangs, and her eyes were almost slits. Currently she was looking at Hana, expecting an answer to her attire.

"I've got a hot date-" was all she managed to get out before there was a small knock at the door. Hana quickly rushed to get it, so that her brother wouldn't go crazy upon learning that she was dating a younger man who happened to kick his ass. She also didn't want her mother to know that she was dating someone younger than her. She opened the door and was met with an interesting sight. Naruto was standing there, leaning on a jeweled cane and wearing an interesting set of clothing. On his top was a black dress shirt that had the two top buttons undone. Over the shirt was a black velvet jacket with thin pinstripes running down it, and jeweled cuffs. He wore a set of black pants (also pinstriped) and a pair of shiny black shoes. Over his head was a hat with one side pinned up, and tilted to the side, covering part of his face. In a word, Naruto was 'lookin' sharp.'

"You look great, baby." Naruto said in an alluring voice that made Hana shiver.

"Thanks sweetie. Shall we go?" She asked, batting her eyelashes. Naruto took her hand and led her away. Kiba and Tsume were staring at this surprising display of casual intimacy, with their jaws on the ground.

* * *

Hana was incredulous. Naruto was taking her _here_? The Jazz Club was the ritziest place in Konoha. It had opened when Hana was thirteen, and became an immediate success. She remembered her mother and father going there for their anniversary once, and coming back content and deprived of money.

"Naruto, how can you _afford_ to take me someplace like this?" She asked, looking at him with wide eyes. Naruto lifted his cavalier hat (as ha had called it) and smiled warmly.

"I wasn't called Konoha's number one most surprising person for a reason Hana-chan." Naruto said with a slightly proud pose. Hana giggled.

"Whatever you say, Uzumaki; I'll believe that you can afford this when I see it." She taunted him. Naruto went into an adorable fake pout as they entered the mid-sized building. The lighting was just right to give the club an intimate feel; lit with soft reds, purples and blues, the atmosphere was very relaxed. Soft music was playing to a strange drum beat near the back of the club. Naruto and Hana strode casually up to the reception desk. The person standing there was a middle aged woman with a light brown hair.

"Can I help you two?" She asked, looking at the attractive girl and her smaller date whose head was covered by a strange hat.

"We'd like a table for two please." Said the boy with a grin on his shadowed face.

"Of course, right this way please." She said, leading them into the club. They were led to a table near to where a small band was playing a set of odd instruments. Although strange, Naruto found them to be soothing as he pulled out Hana's chair so she could sit down. He formed a one handed ram seal, transferred a tiny amount of chakra to his lungs, and blew a miniscule flame at the candle, effectively lighting it.

"I'll be back in a moment to take your orders." Their waiter told them as she walked away. Naruto removed his hat, and his now uninhibited blond hair fell about his head. When two locks fell in front of his ears, Hana gasped quietly.

'_He looks so much like the Yondaime, it's not funny.' _She thought to herself.

"You should dress up like that more often Naruto; you look great." Hana complimented. Naruto blushed a little bit as he thanked her.

"What will you two have to drink?" Asked their waitress, who had just returned to them. She got a slightly tense look to her face when she laid eyes on Naruto.

"I'll have some chilled sake please." Hana ordered.

"I'll have a glass of red Pinot Grigio please." Naruto said, earning a raised eyebrow from Hana and a small stare from the waitress.

"Um, aren't you a little young to be drinking?" the waitress asked in a cold tone. Naruto looked at her calmly. Unless her eyes were deceiving her, Hana was pretty sure that Naruto's eyes suddenly flashed orange for a fraction of a second. The waitress gulped, quickly wrote down the order, and hurried away. Hana looked at Naruto curiously.

"What was that you just did Naruto?" She asked him. Naruto looked nervous for a second before turning to her with a sheepish smile.

"It's just a little jutsu I developed to intimidate my foes in combat, nothing more." Naruto explained. Though it made sense, Hana felt that her date was probably leaving something out. She didn't have time to muse upon this theory, however, as their drinks had arrived. While Hana's was simply a sake bottle and saucer, Naruto's was a large almost pear-shaped glass on a tall stand filled with a dark crimson liquid. Hana raised a delicate eyebrow at Naruto's choice of drink.

"What? I like this kind of wine, that's all." Naruto said. He swirled the glass, and raised it to his lips, taking a small sip. "Here, try it; it's really tasty." He offered her the glass. She took it and was about to take a sip before he stopped her.

"I'm not trying to reprimand your etiquette skills Hana-chan, but there's a little tradition you have to do before you drink wine. First, you have to swirl it." He told her, and she complied. There was a small lip of the liquid hanging on to where the top of the wine had reached.

"That little lip is to determine the alcohol level or quality of the wine. If it's really runny, the wine has a low alcohol level. If it's sticky, the wine has a high alcohol level. This wine is a little on the light side. You'll get better at determining this if you drink it a little more often. Now you can drink it." Hana was surprised that Naruto knew something as obscure as this. Burying that thought, she raised the red wine to her lips and took a small sip. The Pinot Grigio had a fruity taste to it that Hana felt to be quite enjoyable. This was accompanied by a strong burning sensation as the alcohol ran down her throat. Having enhanced taste senses, Hana coughed lightly.

"That burns something fierce. How can you stand to drink it Naruto-kun?" Hana asked as she grimaced slightly. Naruto simply grinned.

"Two words Hana-chan; heavy drinking." Naruto tittered when he saw the look on her face. "No, I'm kidding. I'm not a drinker; I've just got an exotic taste in alcohol ever since I tried this stuff." He admitted. Hana was looking thoughtful.

"Are there any other wines that you like?" She asked him.

"Well let's see… I once had this one brand of wine called 'Iniskillin Ice Wine' and that was pretty good. The only other wine I've had was some cheap crap that I can't remember the name of." Said Naruto. A second later, their waitress arrived again.

"Are you ready to order?" She asked them, getting two nods. "What'll it be?"

"I'll have the filet… mig-non meal please." Hana had some trouble pronouncing the foreign words. Naruto repressed a small snicker.

"It's 'filet mignon' Hana-chan." He corrected her kindly. Hana looked at her date a little sourly. Naruto mocked her expression rather exaggeratedly which made her smile and chuckle lightly.

"And what will you be having, _sir_?" The waitress almost spat the word. Naruto glared.

"I'll have the House Special, please." Hana looked down at Naruto's order and her eyes widened. The House Special was chowder made from clams imported from the Wave Country. With it came a well spiced 12 oz. steak sandwich and an exotic salad to top it off. The waitress wrote down the order, and was contemplating spitting in the 'Demon Brat's' soup. Naruto seemed to figure it out and put his cane on her shoulder to stop her.

"If you spit in my soup or defile my meal in any way, I'll mail the dismembered bodies of every member of your family to you. Got it?" He asked her with a pissed off expression. The waitress gulped as she hurried away. Hana was staring at Naruto.

"Why did you threaten her like that Naruto-kun?" She asked him.

"I knew she was going to do something like spit in my soup. I felt it necessary to discourage her." He stated simply. They began to make light conversation about missions and goals and such. Their meals arrived and they began to eat them. Hana absolutely loved her steak; it was spiced just the right way and the side of vegetables fried in sake made it perfect. Naruto's chowder smelled so delicious that she just had to have a taste. She was surprised when Naruto held out his spoon and offered it to her. She took it with a little blush. In turn, she offered Naruto a piece of her steak. He took it with an expression of someone experiencing nirvana on his face. They ate the rest of their meal in almost silence, putting in comments between bites of food. After about half an hour, the two declined dessert. Naruto was about to think of what to do next when he felt a mental nudge from his furry, nine-tailed tenant.

"**Hey kit, do you really want to impress your date? Because I have a perfect idea if you do."** Said the fox. Naruto raised his eyebrow slightly.

'_What did you have in mind Kyuubi?'_ Naruto mentally replied.

"**If you let me take over, I know a song that will impress your date. It's called 'The One'. It's a love song, in case you're wondering. One thing I know is that women love guys who can sing love songs."** Kyuubi said to his vessel.

'_If you say so, but if you pull any shit, you're cut off forever. Got it?'_ Naruto told the fox, who nodded. At first, Naruto felt nothing. Slowly, a tingling sensation rose through his body. After a second, it stopped. Naruto leaned onto the table, but he didn't _intend_ to lean on the table. _'Must be the fox controlling me.'_ He thought.

"Stay here for a second beautiful; I'll be right back." Said 'Naruto', smiling at Hana. His body arbitrarily got up and walked to the now empty stage. Many eyes followed his ascent. Naruto created four Kage Bunshins which walked up to four separate instruments while the original sat down at the instrument Kyuubi called a 'piano'. Fingering the microphone, 'Naruto' addressed the crowd.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, shinobi and kunoichi alike. I hope you're enjoying your night. Feel free to dance, because this song is going out to all the lovers out there." Naruto announced as he turned to the piano. Kyuubi hadn't played the piano in a couple hundred years, as they hadn't been around since the Great War of Dominance had broken out. Luckily, the demon's photographic memory was a true boon. Kyuubi struck a chord on the piano, training the human fingers. Slowly, he began to play more chords which developed into different melodies. Finally he settled on a single, soft, happy-sounding melody. The sound effects were that of the wind whispering and the waves crashing on the beach. As one of the Bunshins imitated a soft seagull's call in the background, 'Naruto' began to sing in a soft tenor voice.

_I saw you dancing out the ocean_

_Running fast, along the sand._

_A spirit born of earth and water_

_Fire flying from your hands._

After the fourth line, the Bunshin playing the keyboard played the sound of a large wave crashing onto the beach. The Bunshin on the drums gave the little intro, and 'Naruto' began to sing again.

_In the instant that you love someone_

_In the second that the hammer hits_

_Reality runs up your spine_

_And the pieces finally fit._

_(Chorus) And all I ever needed was the one_

_Like freedom fields where wild horses run_

_When stars collide like you and I_

_No shadows block the sun_

_You're all I ever needed_

_Baby you're the one. _

'Naruto' played a little ascending chord and looked out at the crowd. He smiled in satisfaction when he saw half a dozen couples dancing on the large dance floor. Hana was staring at him with awe. Naruto mouthed _'This is for you.'_ Before singing:

_There are caravans we follow_

_Drunken nights in dark hotels_

_When chances breathe between the silence_

_Where sex and love no longer gel. Ooh,_

_For each man in his time is Cain_

_Until he walks along the beach_

_(Accompanied) And sees his future in the water_

_A long lost heart within his reach._

_(Chorus) And all I ever needed was the one_

_Like freedom fields, where wild horses run_

_When stars collide, like you and I_

_No shadows block the sun_

_You're all I ever needed_

_Ooh baby, you're the one._

'Naruto' broke out into a solo with the keyboard Bunshin accompanying him. Creating another Bunshin, he had it pick up on the piano as the original jumped off the stage and offered his hand to Hana. She took it and squealed slightly when Naruto twirled her around and pulled her into an embrace as they began to dance to the music. The Bunshin on the stage began to sing again.

_And all I ever needed was the one_

_Like freedom fields, where wild horses run_

_When stars collide, like you and I_

_No shadows block the sun_

_You're all I ever needed_

_Ooh baby, you're the one_

_(Repeat)_

Hana was thrilled that Naruto had dedicated the song to her. She was even more grateful when he looked into her eyes when he was dancing with her, instead of her bust which he was just above eye level with. The song faded out and Naruto jumped back onto the stage, raising his arms and bowing. Everyone in the club began to clap profusely. Naruto smiled with a happy tear running down the side of his face; the people of Konoha were acknowledging him in a non-negative way. He was surprised when the people began to yell for an encore.

'_Well Kyuu, guess you get a little more control time.'_ Said the blonde, mentally. As the fox again took over, Naruto spoke into the mic:

"Okay folks, you want more, you got it. To all the guys out there; sing the start of the chorus line from this song to your wife or girlfriend whenever they've been nagging at you when they come home from work." A small amount of laughs came from the guys in the crowd. The clone playing the 'guitar' began to play fast chords. 'Naruto' joined in on the piano and sang out in a slightly rougher voice:

_I was justified when I was five_

_Raising cane, I spit in your eye_

_Times are changing, now the poor get fat_

_But the fever's gonna catch you when the bitch gets back. Whoa oh oh!_

'Naruto then raised himself up onto the top of the piano and struck a modeling pose. He got several cheers from both sexes but these were short-lived as he slipped back down to the piano and began to play again.

_Eat meat on Friday that's alright_

_Even like steak on a Saturday night_

_I can bitch the best at your social do's_

_I get high in the evening sniffing pots of glue. Whoo ooh ooh._

_(Chorus) I'm a bitch, I'm a bitch, oh the bitch is back_

_Stone cold sober as a matter of fact._

_I can bitch, I can bitch_

'_Cause I'm better than you._

_It's the way that I move_

_The things that I do. Whoa oh oh._

Another guitar solo ensued, and Naruto kicked his legs out behind him to entertain the now grooving audience. Hana was laughing as she danced.

_I entertain by picking brains_

_Sell my soul by dropping names_

_I don't like those, by God, what's that_

_Oh it's full of nasty habits when the bitch gets back. Whoa oh oh.\_

_I'm a bitch, I'm a bitch, oh the bitch is back_

_Stone cold sober as a matter of fact_

_I can bitch, I can bitch_

'_Cause I'm better than you_

_It's the way that I move_

_The things that I do. Whoa oh oh._

Naruto continued to play the piano, and a bouncy-sounding saxophone solo came in. Doing a head bang, he sang with all his might.

_I'm a bitch, I'm a bitch, oh the bitch is back_

_Stone cold sober as a matter of fact_

_I can bitch, I can bitch_

'_Cause I'm better than you_

_It's the way that I move_

_The things that I do. Whoa oh oh._

_Bitch, bitch, the bitch is back._

_Bitch, bitch, the bitch is back._

_Bitch, bitch, bitch, BITCH!_

Naruto ended the song with a loud chord from all of the instruments. The crowd erupted into cheers and appreciative whistles. 'Naruto' cancelled the K.B.'s (**A.N.: This is how I will now refer to Kage Bunshins unless the jutsu is being called.)** and raised his arms as he took a bow. He was congratulated by Hana, cheered at by the crowd, and the manager told him that the meal was free, seeing as he had done such a spectacular performance.

Naruto felt very pleased as he walked Hana home. At their doorstep, Hana took Naruto's hands in her own.

"I had a great date tonight Naruto-kun," Said Hana. "we should really do this more often." On that note, Hana leaned in and gave Naruto a quick peck on the lips and hurried into the house. Naruto smiled like an idiot.

'_Yes,'_ he thought to himself _'I am a total hunk.'

* * *

_

**A.N.: Like it, hate it, just review please!**

**Translations:**

Karitepo: Seirei Genzo- Reaper's Art: Spirit Vision

Doton: Shinju Zanshu no jutsu- Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Technique

Kirigakure no jutsu- Hidden Mist Technique

Katon: Hosenka no jutsu- Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique

Katon: Tajuu Kafushicho Hogeki- Fire Release: Multiple Fire Phoenix Bombs

Suiton: Teppoudama- Water Release: Gunshot

Katon: Kyosei Kafushicho Hogeki- Fire Release: Great Fire Phoenix Bomb

Suiton: Suijinheki- Water Release: Water Encampment Wall

Kaze no Zanbato- Horse Cleaver of Wind

Eki-teme- Lizard bastard

_Por el poder de la dioses, arrendar esto arma ascender hasta el imaginacion de la usario! - (_SpanishBy the power of the gods, let this weapon ascend to the imagination of the user!

**The songs I used were Elton John's "The One" and "The Bitch is Back"**

**It's polling time! Here are the choices:**

**Naru/Hana (Stays the same)**

**Hana/Naru/Ten (Love triangle) Leave a vote in your reviews. Until then, ja ne!**


	6. Reunions and Encounters

**The Reaper's Art**

**Dirty Reid**

**Hello and welcome back! Sorry it took so long to update, I was working on my new stories "A Swordsman's Road" and "The Spider Fox" (Check 'em out!). Plus, I had to study for my exams. Here is the poll for the love interests:**

**Naru/Hana: 17**

**Hana/Naru/Ten: 57 (O.O)**

**Chapter 6: Old friends, and New Enemies

* * *

**

"I. FUCKING. HATE. CATS!!!" Naruto screamed. Sasuke and Sakura wanted to follow suit, but chose not to. They were currently being entertained by the sight of Naruto chasing after the Daimyo's wife's pet cat Tora for the fourth time this goddamned week. Naruto's horse-sized fox was snoozing a little ways away. Kakashi was simply standing to the side, reading his book. The cat was extremely crafty, outwitting them every time for a short while. Today however, Naruto was mad.

'_Hey Kyuu, come catch this damn vermin so we can finish this mission!'_ Naruto commanded. The fox awoke, yawned, and shook its head.

"**Dammit kit, I was having such a nice dream!"** the fox grumbled as it got up and chased the cat around. Said cat shrieked in terror as it darted away. The fox overtook it after about five seconds, and closed its enormous jaws around the cat. Naruto's teammates gasped and Kakashi looked up from his book. Fortunately, Kyuubi adjusted the way the cat sat in his mouth so that the tip of its tail was poking out.

"C'mon, let's get the vermin back to the queen bee." Naruto grumbled as he started to walk back to the Hokage's tower. The rest of the team jogged to keep up with Naruto's fast pace. Within two minutes, Team 7 was back in the Hokage's office, where the Daimyo's wife was waiting anxiously. She shrunk back in fear upon seeing Kyuubi.

"Well Team 7, mission success or failure?" asked the Hokage. On the first day that his team had been in there, Sasuke and Sakura had been shocked and immediately assumed someone had taken over as the Godaime. After some convincing, and a twisted story of how Naruto gave him the theory for a rejuvenation jutsu, Sarutobi convinced them that he was indeed the Sandaime.

Naruto turned to his fox and nodded. Kyuubi turned to the woman and spat out Tora like he was vomiting. Tora came flying out of Kyuubi's mouth and rolled gracelessly across the floor, covered in saliva. The Daimyo's wife gasped, but did not pick the sticky cat up. Naruto snickered a little bit. Sarutobi winced slightly disgustedly, and turned to the team.

"Well, I believe that you will have time for one more mission today. There are the options of painting the south Academy wall, helping a small family move into a house, or-" He was cut off as Naruto hefted Jakyo and slammed the blade into the hard wood desk; between Sarutobi's middle and ring fingers.

"No no no no no no no no! Fuck that Ojiisan! I am sick and tired of doing these goddamned chores! We're frickin' ninja! Give us a mission that proves that we're worthy of wearing these hitai-ate! Nothing fancy like a B or A-rank, but a C-rank would do just fine!" Naruto shouted. Unfortunately, Iruka had walked in when Naruto had started his rant.

"Naruto! You're fresh out of the Academy... Well, sort of… But you're still too inexperienced to go on a high class-" Naruto held up his hand.

"I'm sorry, but Naruto is not available right now. Please leave your message with his sexy secretary…" Naruto trailed off as he was immersed in a cloud of smoke, clearing away to reveal a sexy, nude woman with blonde pigtails. Smoke covered her more intimate areas but she was at least a double-D, and absolutely 'bootylicious'. Iruka's eyes widened as he rocketed out of the office, propelled by twin jets of blood from his nose. The Hokage had also fallen out of his chair with a huge nosebleed, and Kakashi had passed out from blood loss.

"… On your way out!" The blonde woman said in a sexy, breathy soprano voice. Sakura was emitting a dark aura upon seeing the Orioke no jutsu at work. Sasuke was completely unfazed. Perfect.

"So you _do_ play that way, eh teme?" Naruto asked before he enveloped himself in smoke again. This time, he was a nude man in his twenties that resembled Sasuke, but with dark gold hair and grey eyes. This time, the smoke only covered the 'downstairs' region. Sakura fainted, a small trickle of blood running down her starry-eyed face. Sasuke was squirming uncomfortably. Naruto had a shit-eating grin on as he changed back. Sarutobi got up from the floor and shook his head. Naruto turned to the Hokage.

"No more D-ranks Ojiisan or I give _this_ to the ANBU." He said, and held up the very fabric of the Sandaime's worst nightmares:

It was a picture of him that his wife had taken of him when he was still old. He was clad in nothing but a banana hammock at the beach with a slightly creepy looking smile on his face. Sarutobi paled. _How_ Naruto got it, he didn't want to know.

"Okay!" he squeaked. He began to search through the mission scrolls on his desk. Finally, he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a scroll which had the kanji for "C" stamped on it. Kakashi had just woken back up, and was shaking his head vigorously to get the blood out of his mask. His eyebrow went up when he saw the scroll.

"Team Seven, your mission is to escort the bridge-builder Tazuna back to Wave Country. You can come in now." The approaching middle-aged Hokage called out. A portly man stepped out of the shadows. He was dressed in a slightly ragged shirt and pants. He wore glasses, a hat, and reeked of sake. He looked disdainfully down upon the three Genin.

"These three runts are the ninja you assigned to protect me? They're barely out of their diapers! And the pink haired one looks _really _weak." He sneered. Sakura didn't say anything, but Inner Sakura was raging.

"**Shannaro! Who the FUCK does this asshole think he is?!?! Come here so I can put my foot up your ass and kick the shit out through your mouth!!!"** Inner Sakura was screaming. Naruto seemed to voice her opinion, but in a more refined manner. Not much more refined though.

"Don't start bad-mouthing us you fat, drunken bastard or we won't escort you at all." Naruto warned him, baring his fangs and flexing his claws. Tazuna gulped nervously as the blond boy's fox leered at him.

"You're not paid to threaten the client Naruto." Sarutobi reprimanded him. "Your mission will start at 8:30 tomorrow morning. Dismissed." The Genin started to walk out the door, but Sarutobi called Naruto back.

"Hand over the picture Naruto-kun." Sarutobi ordered him, a dark look on his face. It was replaced by a look of horror when he saw a truly devilish grin appear on Naruto's mug.

"You wouldn't..." Sarutobi gasped, face white as a sheet.

"I would, DATTEBAYO!" Naruto cried as he darted out the door. Sarutobi jumped out from behind his desk.

"NARUTO!!! GIVE ME THAT _NOW!!!_" Sarutobi yelled, chasing the boy with surprising speed. Naruto gulped and released half of his weights.

'_Maybe I shouldn't have made him younger.' _Naruto thought as he jumped down the stairwell. Team Seven and Tazuna watched slack jawed as Naruto was chased by the older man, now small fox in tow.

The villagers turned and stared as Naruto darted through the streets, Hokage in pursuit. They jumped for joy when the man caught the 'Demon Brat' and tackled him to the ground.

Only for Naruto to vanish into smoke.

'_What the hell? A Kage Bunshin? But where is-'_

"Dah, da da da. Da duh, Da duh, can't touch this. Dah da da da. Da duh, da duh, can't touch this. Uh-oh, uh-oh uh-oh uh-oh. Uh-oh, stop! Foxy Time!" Naruto sang from on top of a fruit vendor. He laughed as he proceeded to elude the Hokage. For several moments, the two danced around, fox avoiding monkey. Finally Naruto managed to trip the Hokage, and used his momentum to help launch the man straight into a garbage bin. Naruto laughed when he saw that the bin didn't fall over, and Sarutobi was flailing his legs around wildly. Many other people on the street began to laugh, but one of them stood out.

Naruto turned and noticed Hyuugas Hanabi and Hinata standing out from the crowd. Anko must have really been rubbing off on Hinata, because she had changed a lot. Her hair was now a little bit longer, and she wore it in a ponytail similar to a peacock's train; upright and spiky. She had abandoned her coat, and was now wearing a plain black tank top over a fishnet shirt. Her pants were replaced by a set of tight training shorts that showed off her legs. Both articles of clothing showed off her curves quite nicely. Hinata no longer looked nervous, but carried herself with an air of confidence. She had been giggling at Naruto singing and humiliating the Hokage.

"Hello Hinata, Hanabi. How are you two this fine day?" Naruto asked. Hinata smiled at him warmly. Hanabi's emotionless expression did not change; clearly she had not forgotten the Reaper incident.

"I'm doing good Naruto-kun. You?" Hinata asked back. Naruto grinned when she didn't stutter at all. Naruto raised an eye at her attire, and looked at Hanabi's more covering clothing.

"Does your clan know you're dressing this way?" Naruto asked. Hinata got into a 'thinking pose' and stared off into space for a moment.

"Nope. And I'm not going to change my clothing just because they tell me to. I can do whatever the fuck I want!" Hinata raised her voice at the last part, but looked a little meek afterwards. Naruto suspected Anko was going to have to work a little harder on Hinata's spontaneity. He suddenly remembered what he was going to do and grinned evilly.

"Sat, do you two wanna come with me while I deliver this to the ANBU?" Naruto asked as he held up the picture. Both girls immediately gained anime-style white eyes and opened jaws. They both fell to the ground, howling with laughter a few seconds later. Naruto waited patiently for them to get back up. Both of them were wiping tears of mirth from their eyes as they agreed to accompany him while gasping for air.

About an hour later, Sarutobi managed to get out of the trash can. As he walked back to his office, dirty and stinky as hell, he noticed the two ANBU guards at the door were vibrating slightly. Seconds later they couldn't contain themselves and fell down, laughing their asses off. Sarutobi scowled.

'_I'm gonna get that rat for this...'_ he thought as he entered his full bathroom in the back of his office. He really needed a shower.

* * *

It was 8:30 AM and Naruto was strolling towards Konoha's main gate, Jakyo strapped over his back and a chibi-Kyuubi at his side. Today he wore a black shirt with white letters that read 'Peace, Love, and Kunai' with a forest green flak jacket which mostly hid the large battle chain hung around him like a sash. He wore a set of black pants with flames licking the bottoms, and a set of stealth boots. His hitai-ate was on his right bicep. As he came upon the gate, he saw something unnaturally shocking that made him try and use the genjutsu 'kai' technique:

Kakashi. Standing at the gate. On time. Tazuna was staring at him, more pointedly at the orange book in his hand.

"The world must be coming to an end." Naruto muttered to himself.

"I hear ya there Naruto." Said the voice of a wide-eyed Sakura who had just arrived. Sasuke did not say anything, but was staring at his sensei in disbelief.

"Cut the crap you three and let's go." Kakashi told them. The three Genin just shrugged as they passed through the gate. After about ten minutes of walking, Naruto was going mad from the snail speed they were going at, and wondered how they could go faster. Suddenly, the simplest of answers hit him like the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. He quickly delivered some chakra to Kyuubi who became his horse size again. Tazuna stopped and looked at him in fear.

"Don't be scared Tazuna; Kenshiki won't bite unless I tell him to. He can be friendly most of the time." Naruto placated the elderly man.

"**Damn stupid kit trying to ruin my reputation..."** Kyuubi grumbled, making Naruto chuckle. Tazuna was edging slowly over to Kyuubi, who was getting impatient. Finally, his patience fuse reached its end and he grabbed Tazuna with his tail. Said man yelped, but quieted down when he was placed on the fox's back.

"Just don't pull out is fur; he won't like that." Naruto warned him as they set off at a faster pace. Tazuna didn't complain when he started to bob up and down on the fox. They continued jogging for a while until Naruto held up his hand, calling for a halt.

"Why did you stop us?" Sasuke asked, with a raised eyebrow. Naruto simply pointed to a large puddle in the middle of the path as he unlatched jakyo from his back.

"So what? It's just a puddle Naruto!" Sakura pointed out. Kakashi sighed.

"Think about it Sakura, how could there be a puddle in the middle of a sunlit road on a hot day like this? Plus, it hasn't rained in weeks." Kakashi explained. No sooner had he finished when the puddle shrank and two men rose out of it. Their headbands indicated that they were nin from Kirigakure. Both of them sported identical gauntlets, but one wore it on his right hand and the other on his left. They hissed through their breathing devices as they charged. Naruto simply stood there calmly as one of the two men launched their gauntlet at him. Sakura was screaming at him as it sailed towards his face. At the very last second, he moved his head the minimal amount of distance to the right. He then grasped the chain, formed a one handed tiger seal and called "Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu!" and he blew a blast of flames which traveled up the gauntlet, searing the enemy like a well-done steak. Naruto barely had time to duck the second gauntlet as the enraged second charged at him. Unfortunately, Naruto was punched as he was ducking and flew to the ground. The other man charged at him, gauntlet poised to kill, but he was stopped by Sasuke kicking him in the side of the head. Sasuke then threw a kunai through one of the links in the gauntlet, effectively pinning the man to the tree. Kakashi delivered a sidekick to the man's chin, effectively knocking him out.

'_The Onikyodai! What could these two be doing here? Unless...'_ Kakashi turned to the old man on the fox with a glare.

"Would you mind telling us why you have two Chuunin-level nukenin after you Tazuna?" Kakashi asked, visible eye smoldering with anger. Tazuna gulped.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Tazuna answered, feigning innocence.

"**Bullshit."** Came an unearthly voice. The voice was so evil-sounding that it made the entire group- including Kakashi- freeze up in terror. They looked to the source of the voice, and saw Naruto. His eyes, once bright blue, now glowed orange and his skin was smoking. **"You deliberately withheld information from us. Doing that almost got us killed right now. Start talking old man or I'll give you a little preview of what Hell looks like."** Naruto threatened, his voice shaking the woods around them. Tazuna paled and gulped. He eventually started to spin the story about the Wave Country. It had once been a prosperous place until the Gato Syndicate came along and cut off the trade from the outside world. He then told them why he had ninja coming after him. It was because if he had a bridge built to the mainland, it would draw attention to Gato, effectively crippling his hold on the country. The ninja were disgusted at the man, and appalled by the story. Even Kyuubi was silent.

"We should head back. This mission is at least A-rank now. The ANBU should be the ones to handle this." Kakashi stated. Naruto looked grim.

"Go ahead Kakashi-sensei. I'm not turning back now." Naruto replied in a firm tone.

"Naruto! You're supposed to listen to your sensei!" Sakura chided him.

"I know that Sakura, but think about this for a moment: What is more important for a ninja; completing the mission, or getting the money for the mission?" Naruto asked her. Sakura was about to tell Naruto not to change the subject, but she stopped to think for a moment upon processing his words.

"Completing the mission is more important than getting paid for it." She finally concluded. Naruto smiled.

"Exactly. Kakashi-sensei, you yourself told us to value comrades over a mission. The people of the Wave Country fall into this category immediately. I will not back down an opportunity to help someone, for that is my nindo. Helping people is far more important than money. Who's with me?!" Naruto raised his voice at the last part. Kakashi stepped forward.

"I'm with you." He answered. Sakura looked a little nervous before she agreed. Sasuke gave his trademarked "Hn." before they carried out much faster.

* * *

The trip was uneventful until the group reached Fire Country's borders. As the five and fox rode in the large boat to Wave, an enormous bridge came into view.

"Whoa..." Naruto gasped, fascinated. "That is one big bridge."

"I know. Super, isn't it? Unfortunately, people have been leaving me upon hearing that I'm being targeted by Gato. Therefore the construction is going slower and slower." Tazuna admitted sadly. No more conversation was spoken until they were dropped off and started into the forest. Naruto was feeling rather edgy and paranoid. Whenever that happened before, it usually meant that they were being stalked or watched.

It was then that the smell hit him.

Naruto stopped mid-stride and sniffed. The scent smelled like ozone, mixed with a slight tinge of steel. Concentrating harder, Naruto identified a third smell... rain. Barely a second after processing the scent, Naruto heard something that sounded like senbon needles whizzing through the air.

"DUCK!!" Naruto shouted as he dived out of the rain of senbon needles. The rest of his team and Kyuubi leaped out of the way and fell to the ground. Shaking his head to dislodge the dirt, Naruto looked up at their attacker.

Their attacker was a man dressed in a dark purple jumpsuit with lighter purple stripes running up the sides. He wore dark purple armbands and black ninja sandals. Over his back were a sheathed sword, and an umbrella. He had a handsome face with shoulder length brown hair, and his hitai-ate identified him as an Ame nin. But Naruto knew who this man really was.

"Rokusho Aoi, Konoha nukenin. I assume you're here to assassinate Tazuna?" Naruto stated, rearing himself up and gripping Jakyo.

"Well well, one of the Konoha brats knows me. And yes, I am. If you hand him over, I'll consider letting you live." Aoi responded, grinning maniacally. He reached for the sword on his back and unsheathed it. The blade immediately began to crackle with electricity. Naruto's eyebrow shot upwards.

"The Raijin sword. I hope you're ready to give that up." Naruto said as he got into a loose Muay Thai stance and cancelled one hundred pounds of his weights (Which he had increased to 200 pounds). Aoi scoffed and Kakashi's eye widened.

"Naruto, back off! This guy's an A-rank nukenin! Even _I_ would have trouble beating him!" Kakashi warned him. Naruto looked at his sensei disdainfully.

"Don't worry so much sensei; I've _always_ got a couple of nasty tricks up my sleeve." was all Naruto said before he charged towards Aoi. The nukenin confidently smirked and got ready to parry the strike that he thought was coming judging by the way Naruto held his scythe. His smirk faltered slightly when Naruto mirrored it, and he raked his scythe along the ground. From the spot of contact a large flare of yellow-white flames sprung up and flew at Aoi, who managed to narrowly evade the attack.

"Senbon Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Aoi shouted, launching five senbon needles at Naruto. The five needles multiplied into forty. Naruto knew his aim was nowhere good enough to launch a Shuriken Kage Bunshin and deflect all of the needles, so he decided to take a rather dangerous gamble.

"Kaze no Gengetsu Yaiba!" Naruto shouted, swinging Jakyo and launching several perfect crescent moon shaped wind blades at the incoming senbon, blowing them away or dispelling them.

'_Sweet! I did it perfectly!'_ Naruto mentally cheered. Truth be told, Naruto had been having a bit of trouble with this jutsu. It was a highly altered version of the Futon: Daitoppa. What he had to do was break up the blast of air into fragments, and use more chakra to mould them into crescent moon shapes. As easy as it sounded, Naruto was pretty sure that even medic-nin would have difficulty with this jutsu, due to the chakra control it took. Naruto had discovered at some point while he was training in Hell that compressing his chakra made performing certain jutsus easier. Needless to say, Aoi was impressed.

"Well I gotta hand it to ya kid; you're something else." Aoi said with a tiny amount of praise in his voice. Naruto grinned evilly.

"Thanks Aoi. Needless to say that you're gonna be something else when I'm done with you. And that something is a dismembered corpse!" Naruto shouted out the last part as he twisted his body to dodge a strike from the Raijin sword. The four other spectators were watching wide eyed at the spectacle that was unfolding before them: Naruto was going toe to toe with an A-class nukenin.

'_All this time he was holding back! Where the hell did you get this power Naruto!?! I deserve it so much more than you!'_ Sasuke mentally yelled, barely controlling his rage.

"Is that so brat? Well then come on! Doton: Doryuu Yogeki!" Aoi suddenly rose up out of the ground on a large stone dragon which proceeded to fire large spike-shaped projectiles at Naruto. Naruto managed to dodge most of them, but he missed one of the projectiles hidden in the shadow of a previous one. The result was him getting hit square in the chest and flying back about ten feet.

"NARUTO!" Sakura cried, hands covering her mouth. Kakashi and Sasuke looked shocked too. Aoi grinned as he jumped off the dragon, which crumbled and fell.

"Well brat, you entertained me for a while. Any last words?" Aoi asked as he held Raijin to Naruto's throat. Naruto grinned, causing Aoi to frown.

"Yup. Chi Bunshin no jutsu." 'Naruto' said before turning red and exploding into blood. Aoi sputtered for a moment before Kakashi charged in and kicked him. Aoi stumbled back before he was launched into the air by the real Naruto's bicycle kick. Aoi managed to land on his feet, and when he looked up at Naruto... he was _mad._

"No more horsing around!" he yelled as he rushed in with surprising speed. Naruto was forced to cancel fifty more pounds of his weights as he dodged and blocked Aoi's furious swipes. It was kind of beneficial for Jakyo to have its own chakra system, as it absorbed the electricity and stored it. After multiple strikes and blocks, Jakyo sent a pulse to Naruto, telling him what to do. Naruto grinned at Aoi as he announced his jutsu.

"Jutsu Hanshakyo!" Naruto called. He swung his scythe, and launched a ball of lightning as big as he was back at the nukenin. Aoi's eyes went wide before he managed to jump over the attack. Almost. A stray bolt of electricity reached out and hit Aoi's leg, causing him to scream in agony as he fell to the ground. He looked up to see a quickly growing shadow above him which turned out to be Naruto, cocking his arm back.

"Sankon Tesso!" **(A.N.: In case you're wondering, yes I did steal this from InuYasha... whom I own not.)** Naruto announced as he brought his clawed hand forward in a sweeping motion, a crackling trail of bluish energy trailing behind him. A sickening sound of cleaved flesh followed as Aoi's head fell to the ground. Naruto himself fell to his knees, panting. The Sankon Tesso was an Onijutsu. Even though it was a simple one, it still took a lot of chakra to make it effective. If Naruto had to guess, he had about half of his chakra left. Kyuubi quickly saw to remedying that problem. Sakura was perturbed as soon as he overcame her shock.

"Naruto, what was that last move that you used?" she asked curiosity evident in her tone. Naruto froze for a moment as he tried to think up a back story. When he drew a blank, he decided on a twisted truth.

"Well... you see... my master believed in versatility. And by that, I don't just mean nin, tai, gen, and kenjutsu. He believed in learning foreign arts as a trump card for battle. In this case, he taught me the one Onijutsu that he was able to perform." Naruto admitted. The four others were deathly quiet and wide eyed.

"_Onijutsu?"_ Sasuke asked in disbelief. Naruto smirked when he detected a small undertone of jealousy.

"S'matter Sasuke-teme? Jealous that I can use a move you don't and never will have the ability to do?" Naruto taunted, and smirked wider when he felt Sasuke's chakra spike in anger.

"I speak the truth. Even with my huge chakra reserves, that technique burned up about a fifth of my chakra. Combined with the Kaze no Gengetsu Yaiba and maintaining the Chi Bunshin no jutsu, I've only got about half my chakra left. I'd assume that your reserves are about half of my full one right now. Besides, you need to have... had a special Ritual done to you in order to be able to use Onijutsu. The survival rate of that ritual is about 2500 against 1." Naruto stated as he picked up Aoi's head. He then pulled out a scroll that he had stuck in his battle chain. Opening it, he placed Aoi's head on one of the sealing circles, transferred some chakra into it, and Aoi's head was sealed in a puff of smoke. Naruto sweatdropped when the kanji that signified Aoi's head was there read 'The Goods'. After incinerating Aoi's body, he picked up the Raijin sword. Not too heavy, but not too light either. Naruto began to ponder to himself.

'_I don't need the sword, I have Jakyo. Sasuke is more than capable of defending himself. The last thing he needs is a legendary sword to inflate his ego even more. Kakashi-sensei probably has an ANBU sword. Sooo...'_ He reached a conclusion and pulled a thin belt out of his pocket. Naruto then walked up to Sakura, and presented her with the sheathed Raijin and the belt to go with it. Her green eyes almost popped out of her head.

"N-Naruto, w-why are you giving this t-to me?!" she half shouted. Naruto frowned.

"I know you don't want to hear it Sakura, but I need to say it; you're weak. Book smarts count for nothing on the battlefield and you need to be able to defend yourself. I'm sure that the Hokage will allow you to keep the sword... and I've always thought that there was something sexy about women wielding swords..." Naruto muttered to himself with a giggle. Unfortunately, Sakura heard him and attempted to bash him on the head. Naruto reached up and batted her fist away casually. He gave a small sigh.

"Curious; if only you would use the strength you used to try and hit those who annoy you on the battlefield, you may become a decent kunoichi." Naruto said in a flat tone. Sakura was enraged, but said nothing.

"Let's go." He said before turning away. Sakura looked at her new sword, and vowed to become stronger as she slipped it into the belt that Naruto had given her with the sword. Sasuke fought to keep his anger under control as they walked. Tazuna was oblivious, and Kakashi sighed.

'_What am I gonna do with these three?'_ he thought as he pulled out Icha Icha Paradise for at least some temporary solace.

* * *

Few to no words were spoken as the group of five continued their journey. It was getting late in the afternoon when Naruto got the feeling that something of ill will was skulking around. Falling behind the group slightly, he performed the Seirei Genzo jutsu, and scanned the area. Looking to his right, he saw nothing but a couple of Guardian trees. Looking to his left, he spotted a powerful soul aura. It was both a Pure and Corrupt soul... and the one emitting it just threw an enormous sword.

"GET THE FUCK DOWN!!" Naruto screamed, deactivating the Seirei Genzo. His teammates ducked, and Kyuubi jumped to the side. The huge sword sailed past them and imbedded itself in a tree. Looking up at it, Naruto spotted a man standing on it. His hitai-ate identified him as a Kirigakure nukenin. While he wore no shirt, he wore a set of white hakama style pants with underbrush camouflage leg and armbands. Bandages covered the lower half of his dark face. Naruto had heard tales from the dead about this man...

"Momochi Zabuza; S-class nukenin of Kirigakure. Former member of the Mist's Seven Swordsmen and self-proclaimed Kirigakure no Kijin." Naruto stated in an emotionless tone as he rose from the ground. Although he couldn't tell, Zabuza smirked.

"It's nice to see that you know of me so well gaki. Now if you're smart, you'll hand over the old man. If you do, I'll let you pass." The sword-wielding nin responded. Sasuke was staring at Zabuza in fear, and Sakura could barely move enough to lay her hand on Raijin. Kakashi was looking on calmly.

"Not gonna happen, you eyebrow-less freak." Naruto snapped, grinning when he saw a vein pulse on Zabuza's head. Perfect.

"You know if you want some eyebrows I've got a couple friends back in Konoha who would be more than willing to lend you parts of theirs." Naruto joked. Several more veins popped out in Zabuza's face, now red with anger and embarrassment. Kakashi was starting to hunch over, and was giggling slightly. Naruto had to stuff his fist into his mouth to stop himself from laughing at his joke. Not too far away, another person was giggling under her mask **(A.N.: Yes, Haku is a girl)**. Finally, Zabuza snapped.

"WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DEALING WITH YOU BLOND DIPSHIT?!? I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Zabuza screeched. "Kirigakure no jutsu!" he added, and the mist began to roll in. Naruto bit back a last snicker.

"You're funny when you're angry, Zabu-chan!" Naruto called into the mist. He received a roar of frustration from the nukenin. His taunting of Zabuza seemed to give the others courage. Even Tazuna was looking less afraid. Sasuke had a pair of kunai out, and Sakura had drawn Raijin. Kakashi had lifted his hitai-ate to expose his Sharingan.

"Eight points," came Zabuza's creepy voice from somewhere in the mist. "the larynx, spine, liver, collarbone, jugular vein, kidneys, brain, and the heart. Which do you choose?" Zabuza asked. Naruto yawned loudly.

"What you should be saying is 'which point do_ I_ want to get stabbed in?' you freak." Naruto shot back confidently. With his attuned ears and other senses, he felt a displacement in the air above him. He raised Jakyo just in time to block Zabuza's huge-ass blade from turning him into fox meat. Unfortunately the weight of the sword, combined with Zabuza's strength, was beginning to wear him down.

"I'm impressed gaki; you can hold me back if only for a little bit. But how long until your fancy little toy breaks?" Zabuza sneered at Naruto. Naruto simply replied:

"Well Zabuza, one; Jakyo's staff is made of adamantite, so it's not gonna break anytime soon. Two; Raiton: Denki no Hara!" Naruto announced. Zabuza was then blown away by a huge explosion of electricity from Jakyo. The rest of Naruto's team had to jump away as well. Zabuza landed about fifteen feet away, crouching slightly.

"Not bad gaki, I-" Zabuza abandoned his speech and jumped as Naruto aimed a swipe at Zabuza's midsection. Zabuza did a couple of hand seals and shot several water bullets out of the air. Naruto raked the ground with Jakyo and several earth bullets shot out of the ground. They intercepted the water projectiles, and the jutsus cancelled out.

The Demon and the Reaper continued their dance of death for several more minutes in front of an awestruck audience. Neither of them looked to be gaining the upper hand until Zabuza landed a powerful punch on Naruto's chest, sending him flying. But Naruto was not known as someone who just sits by and lets an enemy hit him. When someone initiates, he reciprocates!

And that's exactly what he did. With an almost unnatural grace Naruto unraveled his battle chain, stuck it into a branch and swung back at Zabuza, delivering a powerful kick to the ex-Kiri nin's chest. Said man stumbled onto the water, but didn't fall in.

'_Nani?! He can walk on water? How does he do that?'_ Sakura thought, gripping Raijin a little tighter. Her jaw dropped open when Naruto mirrored Zabuza's act. Zabuza's nonexistent eyebrows rose up. That act made Naruto double over, sniggering loudly. Zabuza ejected steam from his ears and began to run through an extremely long list of seals that Naruto recognized all too well. He simply formed a one handed ram seal and waited. About a second later, the Demon and the Reaper announced their jutsus:

Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu!" Zabuza announced as a huge water dragon rose out of the water.

Futon: Furyudanno jutsu!" Naruto cried, exhaling a blast of air which took the shape of a dragon from his mouth. The dragon flew circles around and through the dragon, effectively cancelling the two out. Naruto shook his head.

"Nice try Mr. No-Brows!" Naruto taunted. Veins popped out in Zabuza's head as he charged at Naruto. He brought his immense sword back, and swung. At the last second, Naruto stopped transferring chakra through his feet, and sank beneath the water. All he got was a small scratch on his forehead. Zabuza scoffed.

"Come up and fight koshinuke!" Zabuza shouted. Silence.

"Get up here, or- WHOA SHIT!!" Zabuza yelled as a giant pillar of water rose from underneath he was a second before. When the pillar cleared, there stood Naruto on top of a huge beast. The dragon resembled a serpent. Its hide was a dark navy blue, almost black. A golden frill surrounded its head. Right now, its red eyes were blazing, and it was baring its black teeth. Zabuza froze.

"What man dareth disturb mine slumber?" the dragon's bass voice boomed. It seemed that different types of dragons spoke in tongues of different formalities. Wanting to make a good impression, Naruto began to speak in the dragon's formal tongue.

"Thy master calls thee, water prince. May I request an introduction?" Naruto asked. Back on shore, Naruto's company was staring at him and his summon in awe. Sasuke was looking at him rather strangely. Naruto suspected that Sasuke thought he had gone insane with the new tone.

"Vesi is my name, master. And thy title?" Vesi asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto. I apologize for ending our introductions, but I request thy aid in slaying the man on the water." Naruto indicated Zabuza. Vesi looked down upon Zabuza and grinned, licking his chops.

"Fressshhh... MEAT!" Vesi hollered the last part as he took a snap at Zabuza. He managed to dodge, but did not expect Vesi's fin-like tail to shoot up and smack him like a rag doll. Aiming quickly, Vesi opened his mouth and launched a huge blast of ice at Zabuza. Said man managed to dodge, but Kakashi grabbed him by the arm and threw him at Vesi with all his might. The serpent-like dragon lunged forward, and Naruto jumped off of him at an angle that would make him sail just over Zabuza. As he passed over Zabuza, Naruto flipped himself and kicked him downwards. The swordsman came crashing to the ground. He was getting up when he felt a tingle of electricity at his throat. He looked up to see Sakura holding Raijin at his throat, smirking.

"We win, 'Buza." Sakura stated. Right after she said these words, three senbon needles imbedded themselves in Zabuza's neck. Zabuza's eyes widened before they closed, and he slumped to the ground, dead. Sakura looked up to see a figure standing on a branch. They wore a mask of an oinin, bearing the Kirigakure symbol. They were dressed in a green haori, and orange hakama.

"Thank you for your assistance, especially you on the dragon. I am indebted to you all." Said the oinin. She was apparently female, due to the soprano tone. She jumped down to Zabuza, touched his body and disappeared with it. Although he should have felt elated that he had defeated such a strong opponent, Naruto felt that something wasn't right about that oinin. If he didn't know better, he'd have thought the two were in cahoots. Banishing the thought, Naruto jumped off of Vesi and bowed to him. The dragon inclined his head slightly, and promptly vanished. Naruto turned his slightly bloody face to the four (Well, five) onlookers.

"We should get going before more nin start to prowl." Naruto advised as he began to run along the path. The three nin and demon fox followed suit.

* * *

It was several hours later when they reached Tazuna's home. Relieved to be able to walk again, Tazuna jumped off of Kyuubi and wobbled to the front door.

"Tsunami! Inari! I'm home!" Tazuna called. Seconds later, an attractive woman in her late twenties came rushing out the door.

"Otou-san! You're back!" she cried, embracing Tazuna tightly.

"Good to see you to Tsunami. These are the super ninjas who managed to protect me!" Tazuna indicated Team Seven and Kyuubi. "The one with the scythe held off two of the really strong ninjas pretty much alone." Naruto grinned a little, but blushed under the scrutiny of the pretty woman. He grinned a little more when he felt jealousy radiate off of the other members of his team, Kakashi included.

"Wait a minute, ninjas? This is only a C-rank mission. Surely only bandits would attack on this sort of thing." Tsunami stated, confused. Kakashi sighed and began to tell the story. By the time he had finished with Zabuza's assassination attempt, the group had moved into the house and was enjoying a cup of tea. By the end of his cup, the pondering that Naruto had been doing hurt as much as the force of one of Shinigami's punches; and they hurt like a bitch queen.

'_There was something suspicious about that oinin... but I can't put my finger on it! Wait, calm down and relay what you know. Oinin are nin who hunt down traitors and nukenin. When they catch and kill their target they're supposed to...' _"HOLD IT!!" Naruto accidentally shouted, startling everyone at the table. Sakura even dropped her tea.

"What the hell Naruto? What's with making us jump out of our skins like that?!" Sakura screeched at him, but missed hitting him. Naruto looked at Kakashi seriously.

"Kakashi-sensei, aren't oinin supposed to exterminate the body of a nukenin on the spot after they kill them?" Naruto asked. The Jounin cyclops' eye widened.

"Yes! And the method that that oinin used was rather unorthodox. Senbon needles are rarely powerful enough to kill..." Kakashi continued Naruto's thoughts.

"But if used correctly, and imbedded in the right spot, the needles can put someone in a near-death state. If that were so, that would mean..." Naruto answered for Kakashi.

"Zabuza is still alive!" both sensei and Genin said in unison. The house became deathly quiet before Tazuna broke it nervously.

"Come on, we saw that girl kill him! He can't be alive!" Tazuna half-cried exasperatedly. Naruto turned a grim face to the bridge-builder.

"Nothing is impossible in the ninja world. We should start preparing for No-Brows' return." Tsunami giggled at Naruto's nickname for Zabuza. Kakashi's eye became an upside-down U.

"Yosh, we will begin our training tomorrow. I advise you to get some sleep; you three are gonna need it." Kakashi advised them as he got up and stretched. Naruto yawned; fighting that hard against an S-class sword master really tired him out.

"Well, I'm gonna go to bed. Send of a jutsu if you need me. C'mon Kenshiki." Naruto beckoned to the now chibi fox, who bounded after him. Once he reached his designated room, Naruto crashed down on it. He was asleep as soon as he hit the pillow.

* * *

It was early the next morning, and Team Seven was standing out in the woods. Sasuke and Sakura were looking a little suspicious; Naruto had changed his clothing again. He now wore a black shirt with a cloak bearing t crude skull on the back of it. His battle chain and scythe rested by a tree nearby. He wore a set of wide legged pants that allowed great flexibility.

"I sealed most of my clothing in scrolls, if that's what you're wondering." Naruto told his teammates. Sakura shrugged and turned back to Kakashi, but Sasuke still stared.

"I've already told you teme; I _won't _go out with you." Naruto snapped. Kakashi giggled, and Sasuke shot him a death glare.

"Well Naruto, since you can walk on water, I'll let you go and train on your own. These two are going to learn the tree walk." Kakashi explained. Sakura and Sasuke looked confused, but Naruto understood.

"Arigatou sensei. I've wanted to try out a new jutsu I heard about... AWAY from prying eyes, teme." Naruto snapped coldly as Sasuke looked at him discreetly. He picked up his weapons and jumped away, leaving only a cloud of dust. Kakashi cleared his throat.

"Anyway, you two will be learning..."

* * *

Naruto arrived at a large pond a quarter of a kilometre away from his team.

"**Okay kit, this is one of my personal jutsu which I use when in human form. It is 'Onipo: Yoroi no Kitsune' these are the seals..."** Kyuubi sent the seal sequence to Naruto, who whistled; there were thirty-seven. Shrugging, Naruto put Diabolus and his chain down and ran through them. Ending on Angel, he called the name of the jutsu. After he felt about a sixth of his chakra drain, his body began to glow blood red, and he could suddenly feel something else covering his skin. Unfortunately, the glow prevented him from seeing it. A few seconds later, the glow stopped. Naruto walked over to the edge of the pond and stared at his reflection. He gasped at the sight he beheld. His body was now covered in plates of iron-black, semi-iridescent armour with thin but intricate designs of vines and leaves on them. Where the armour didn't cover, a comfortable thick black material covered him. Concealing his face was a headpiece that looked like Kyuubi's head with the mouth open for him to breathe. Looking behind him, Naruto saw nine round, thin metal tails waving around on their own accord.

"**These tails are sentient. They can move on their own accord. They can be used to support you, or as skewers, bludgeons, or to restrain other things. But they are really just transformed weapons. You can pull them out to see what they are, and they will transform. To put them back, just place it near where you got it from, and it will reattach and revert to its tail form. Most of these weapons aren't too heavy, but if you cancel your weights you shouldn't have too much of a problem."** Naruto heeded Kyuubi's words, cancelled his weights, and pulled out one of the tails. The tail in his armoured hand straightened and transformed into a four-foot-long pike that resembled a lightning rod.

"**Oh, and with some of the weapons, there is a special jutsu to go with it. This one in particular..." **Kyuubi transferred the information to Naruto. Information processed, Naruto formed a Jackal seal.

"Raiton: Raiko Senzai!" he said forcefully. Straight from the blue, a bolt of lightning seared down and struck the pike. Naruto swung the pike down into the ground, and the lightning dispersed, jumping up all over the pond like an immensely deadly garden of waving blue creeper vines. Ten seconds later, the lightning had faded from the seared ground. Naruto returned the pike to its place and began to try the other weapons. They turned out to be a large zweihander, a detachable double-bladed naginata, a gauntlet with a flower-like chain blade, a large war hammer, a curvy and deadly looking axe, a longbow with two blades at the ends and a never empty quiver, a wicked-looking sword that looked like a two-pronged (or bladed in this case) fork with a spike in the middle, and a blade in the shape of a very curved sickle.

The hammer's jutsu was Doton, and it created a huge shockwave that radiated for about fifty to one hundred metres. The naginata's jutsu type was Futon, and it could create and control tornadoes. The bow and arrows' jutsu type was Katon, and the arrows caught fire and exploded when they impacted. The fork-like sword's element was Suiton, and it could manipulate water to the will of its master.

"**I should also tell you that you can shoot the five elements out of your mouth while in this armour. Just think of what element you want to use- including Hyoton- and breathe out."** Kyuubi instructed him. Naruto looked at the lake and thought of fire as knowledge of the attacks came to his brain.

"Katon: Kitsune-bi!" Naruto called before he inhaled deeply, and released his breath. A tremendous blaze of pale blue fire shot from the mask and onto the lake. Even though the trees were a ways away, Naruto could still see the leaves withering from the heat. When the fiery torrent of death stopped, the lake was steaming like a sauna.

'_Sweeeeeet!'_ Naruto thought. He heard something up in the sky, and saw a vulture flying around. Target practice was on as the new info came to him.

"Raiton: Raiko Ame!" Naruto called as he launched a ball of lightning the size of his old apartment into the air. After it incinerated the vulture and went up a bit more, the blast split into multiple dozen smaller projectiles which began to fall. When they hit the ground, they exploded in a fantastic blue firework display. Naruto's grin threatened to permanently freeze his face in place.

"Futon: Gufukei!" Several spinning whips flew from his mouth and lashed at anything around them, resulting in multiple huge gashes in the ground, trees and rocks around him. Naruto let out a long whistle before moving to the next jutsu.

"Suiton: Unabara Soso!" Naruto called. An incredible amount of water shot from his mask. The water formed an enormous wave which crashed down onto the pond, causing it to overflow. Ever eager, Naruto tried the final jutsu.

"Doton: Hari no Toko!" Naruto announced as he slammed his armoured hands (Which had two inch claw attachments on them) into the ground. A blink later and there was a large patch of needle-like growths sticking out of the earth. It was then that Naruto noticed something.

'_Kyuu, why do I have more chakra than I should after attacks like these? Surely by now I should be down to at least a fifth of my chakra.'_ Naruto asked.

"**This armour produces its own chakra, and is blessed with the power of five of the Seven Elemental Talismans. That's where its power comes from."** Kyuubi replied and Naruto gasped. The Seven Elemental Talismans were said to give anyone who touched any of them unlimited control over what element that particular stone represented. An example was the abilities of the Shodai and Nidaime Hokage. Shinigami had told him that the brothers Kage had found the hidden temple where the talismans were held. For their efforts, the cultists that guarded the temple allowed them to access some of the talismans' power. The Shodaime had chosen both the power of earth and water, which he combined somehow to create his Mokuton jutsu. The Nidaime had strategically chosen power over water. Together, they were able to create Konoha. There was also a rumour that the Nara clan had the power of one of the talismans.

Unfortunately, there were only five of them left; the Talismans of Light and Shadow (Which the Nara clan was rumoured to have their power from) had been stolen or disappeared. The Darkness Talisman had disappeared about 100 years ago by a strange demon, and disappeared forty years later. It was also said that the Shadow Talisman held some of the powers of Hell, much like Naruto's Reaper Ring, giving the user the power of necromancy. The Talisman of Light was a heavenly talisman, and was rumoured to have been taken by the Yonbi no Tsubame. But these were simply rumours. He froze when he heard footsteps. Kyuubi quickly told him how to deactivate his armour, and he did not a second too soon. Sakura stepped out into the clearing. Her eyes widened when she saw the destruction Naruto had dealt the terrain.

"Naruto... did you do _all of this?_" Sakura gasped. Naruto snickered as he called his scythe to his hand.

"Yep, a little destruction therapy works off the stress of knowing an S-class criminal is probably out for my blood. Anyway, what do you need?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I've perfected the tree-walking exercise and... um... I know you use a scythe, but... could you try and help me get a grasp on using a sword? I really don't know how to use one." Sakura asked him tentatively. She expected Naruto to scoff and say 'no'. What she got was a smirk.

"I'm glad you're starting to take your training seriously Sakura. It shows that you're not just doing it to try and get closer to teme over there. Sure I can help you. But I only know the basics, just so you're warned." Naruto told her. Sakura drew Raijin.

"That's okay; the basics are all I'll need for now." Sakura answered.

"Okay then, well here's a basic stance..."

* * *

Poor, depressed, and hopeless.

These were just some of the thoughts that Sasuke could use to describe the dilapidated town they were walking through. People were sitting on the sidewalk, sleeping in ragged clothing. Others were shuffling through the streets, eyes down. Naruto sighed.

"I can just imagine this place to be the jewel in the Emperor's crown... but Gato has taken it away..." Naruto trailed off, clenching his fists tighter. "That just makes me want to punish him in the cruelest way possible." Naruto hissed out, pointy teeth gritted. Sasuke shuddered; knowing Naruto, he could probably think up some pretty gruesome ways to kill somebody.

"That time will come soon Naruto. You'll just have to be patient." Kakashi told his blond charge as they walked through the streets. Sakura just looked sad and tired. Naruto had given her no mercy when he taught her to use a sword. Her arms were threatening to fall off, and she'd had to jump around to avoid some of Naruto's more vicious attacks. But she was still aware enough to sense that they were being followed. She abruptly came to a screeching halt. The rest of her team looked at her in confusion. Sakura did not acknowledge their curious glances as she drew Raijin and spoke.

"Okay, you can come out now." She called. Several people looked at her in confusion, as did her teammates. Only did their expressions slip when a blur jumped from the roof and landed behind them. Kakashi got a good look at their pursuant.

And he promptly dropped his little orange 'Bible of Perverts' as he gasped.

Their pursuant was a woman; and an attractive one at that. She had light brown hair that fell down to her waist like a glistening ocean. Her figure was something seen on the cover of model magazines; a well endowed chest, round hips, and a frame that was quite slender, but powerful. Two faint orange streaks adorned her beautifully hollowed face. She had light brown eyes that were flecked with green, like fragments of emerald in sand. Currently they were wide in shock and her full, pink lips were opened as she sucked in air.

"K-Kakashi-kun?" she stuttered, as though he were a mirage.

"_Rin_? Is that you?" Kakashi whispered out, as he slowly walked towards the woman called Rin. The two stopped barely several feet from each other. After an almost painfully long time, the two came together in a hug so quickly that the Genin did not see them move. Rin began to sob, and Naruto was pretty damn sure that he heard Kakashi sniffle once or twice.

"I-I missed y-you." Rin managed to choke out through her sobs.

"I did too... I missed you a lot." Kakashi hoarsely replied as tears ran silently down his face. Naruto and Sakura felt their eyes warm with happy tears for their sensei finding someone he had lost. Even Sasuke dropped his emotional barrier and looked rather touched at the drama before him. However, the moment was killed when Kakashi's hand slid down and he squeezed Rin's butt with a perverted giggle. Her tears immediately stopped and she threw him to the ground. She then kicked him in the crotch, causing him to squeal in pain.

"PERVERT!!" she screamed at him. Naruto gulped and covered his balls, preferring to keep them from being shoved into his body. Sasuke shuddered in sympathy for his sensei. Sakura shook her head as she sheathed her sword. Rin looked at them and smiled with a sheepish laugh.

"Sorry about that, eh heh heh. You three must be his Genin team. As you probably heard, I'm Rin; Kakashi's old teammate." Rin stated as she sent a reproachful glare at their sensei, who was trying to get up from the ground.

"Yeah, we are. I'm Haruno Sakura." Sakura introduced herself with a little bow. Rin had never heard of many Haruno ninja who had succeeded before; they were generally killed because of their weakness (Male) and lack of altruism and seriousness (females).

"Uchiha Sasuke." Was Sasuke's curt answer. Rin raised a delicate eyebrow. The Uchiha she had known before (with the exception of Obito) had been rather broody and secretive. But this guy was all that, and radiating angst. But it was the blonde that attracted her attention.

"Uzumaki Naruto." He stated with a foxy grin. Rin's eyes widened slightly; the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki, an angsty Uchiha, and an almost certain failure? But the blonde, could he be...?

"Interesting team you got here Kakashi." Rin remarked to the cyclops who could now just barely stand. Kakashi eye smiled at her.

"Yeah, a real bag of tricks; a fangirl with the Raijin sword, the Rookie of the year and last loyal one of his clan, and a guy who can take out A-rank nukenin and hold his own against one of the Kiri Seven." Kakashi appraised their abilities. Rin whistled.

"Well if they're that good, what are you doing here?" Rin asked them. Kakashi sighed and explained their mission as they went and got the food for their dinner. There were surprisingly few provisions in the supermarket. Naruto insisted that they pay extra out of kindness, and he left the man behind the counter a generous bonus. He thanked Naruto profusely, and Naruto just smiled foxily.

Dinner was a subdued affair. Silence fell upon the ears of Tazuna's family and the five ninja. Naruto discreetly watched Inari, Tsunami's son. He was a very quiet child who looked to have seen many things that caused one's heart to become cold and negative. Finally, Inari snapped and slammed his small fists down on the table.

"Why do you try so hard? No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to defeat Gato's men! When the weak fight, they will always lose!" Inari shouted. Tsunami and Tazuna were glaring at Inari. Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and Rin all looked a little surprised at the outburst. Naruto however...

"So like the actor in a tragic play, you're just going to sit on your butt and weep about your horrid situation?" he spat before turning back to his dinner. Tears formed in Inari's eyes.

"SHUT UP! You have no clue about me! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE A ROUGH LIFE!!" Inari screamed the last part. The little overall-wearing boy was about to continue when he felt the temperature in the room drop by about fifteen degrees Celsius. Everyone else gasped too. Naruto looked up at Inari with pure wrath blazing in his now glowing orange eyes. He bared his fangs and steam billowed from his mouth, causing the child to shrink back in fear.

"**Silence, you little shit rag."** Naruto's voice was overlaid by the rumbling tone of the Ghost Rider. The lights began to flicker as Naruto's Karite Chakra began to form.

"_**I**_** don't know what it's like to have a hard life?"** Naruto then proceeded to let loose a booming laugh which shook the bones of even the war-hardened Kakashi and Rin. **"That's rich brat. But I have had a much harder life than you. You, my little shit, can only say that you've had it rough when you grew up with NO parents, were kicked out of an orphanage when you were four, were hated by your village since the day you were born, and have almost been ASSASSINATED... Um... **_**fifty-two times**_** in nine years. Once you've experienced those things, only then can you say that your life is as fucked up as mine."** Naruto growled. Inari looked ready to piss himself.

"**I can already tell that your father was a hero to this country, and died doing great things. Sitting around on your ass and crying is a pretty piss poor way to carry on his memory. The right thing to do... is to honour him **and pick up where he left off." Naruto's voice reverted to his real one as his eyes stopped blazing.

"Naruto! Apologize to Inari-chan! You went too far!" Sakura screeched. Naruto turned to her and glared at her so coldly that she could literally feel her blood freeze.

"You stay out of this Haruno! Your life was sheltered compared to the shit that I've gone through!" Naruto snapped with so much venom in his tone that Sakura scooted backwards in fear. Naruto shot up from the table, grabbed his scythe and chain, and walked out while muttering something about 'shallow assholes' and 'destruction therapy'. Tazuna watched him exit the building.

"What's with him?" he threw out. Kakashi sighed.

"Naruto doesn't like people who believe they're special because one or two bad things have happened to them in their lives. Not when compared to his own. All of what he told Inari was completely true. But all of those events happened from when he was born until he was nine years old. If it weren't for the two or three people who cared about him, Naruto would have probably broken a long time ago. But after nine years, he just disappeared for three years and came back like we see him now. Nobody knows where he went, but it changed him a lot. Now he seems a little more outspoken in belittling and criticizing people, something he never did in a serious sense when he was little." Kakashi explained. The other members of the table were wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"What did he do to _deserve_ something like that?" Tazuna asked with his sake saucer discarded. Sasuke looked like he was almost feeling sorry for the blonde. Sympathy and sadness could be seen in Tsunami and Rin's eyes. Sakura just looked shocked.

"... That much I can't tell you. The only person you could get that answer from is Naruto himself, and I'm pretty sure that he's not too keen on sharing that knowledge." Kakashi explained. A tear fell from Sakura's eye.

"I can't believe myself. I remember once that I treated him so horribly when we were little, and even now. He probably hates me... and only taught me how t-to use a sword as s-some sick sort of w-way to prove himself to me..." Sakura trailed off as she wiped a tear from her eye and the knot in her throat grew bigger. She resolved to try and be nice to the blonde for a while. Tsunami voiced a question that had been gnawing at everyone's mind: "Where _is_ Naruto?" she asked. As if on cue, a loud _BOOM _was heard.

"I thought I heard him say something about destruction therapy..." Sakura offered as another explosion was heard. Everyone sweatdropped.

* * *

Naruto growled as he cut down another tree with Jakyo. As it fell, a now two-tailed Kyuubi the size of a small elephant jumped out of the tree and shot a greenish fireball at him. Naruto spun Jakyo very quickly, and the fireball exploded against the adamantite staff. Naruto then blew out a Gokakyu no jutsu at the fox who promptly dodged it narrowly. Kyuubi was a clever bastard; he could hide anywhere by using some weird jutsu that could bend light around him. This occasionally made Naruto fight on instinct, or attack blindly. Naruto stifled a cry as the fox nearly took his leg off with a snap of his jaws. Naruto spun Jakyo, creating a ring of fire which singed the fox's fur slightly. The fox growled in annoyance.

"**Katon: Haisekisho!"** Kyuubi announced as he blew a huge cloud of smoking ashes from his mouth.

"Doton: Doryuuheki!" Naruto replied as he spat mud from his mouth. It rose to create a huge mud wall, blocking the cloud of ashes. Naruto jumped over the wall and came at the fox, slashing madly. The fox jumped out of the way of all of the slashes, and slammed his tail into the ground.

"**Doton: Dokado!"** A large wave of earth rose out of the ground and began to spiral at the blonde Reaper who slashed a huge rift in it with his scythe. He kicked the fox, which landed about twenty feet away. Naruto ran through some demon seals, and ended it on Demon.

"Akuma Katon: Kukogoka no jutsu!" Naruto took a deep breath, and exhaled a blaze of black and white fire that roared like a lion. The flames decimated anything in their path, turning the dirt below them to dust or glass, and erasing the trees from the face of the earth. On their way, they incinerated Kyuubi, sending him back into the seal. When his breath ran out, he collapsed. Even the basic Akuma Katon jutsu took out about a third of his chakra. The Kukogoka was the demon equivalent of the Gokakyu and they took about three times as much chakra as a human Katon of that calibre; so you do the chakra math, my dear reviewers.

'_I win Kyuubi.'_ Naruto stated. For the last couple of weeks, Naruto and Kyuubi had been fighting each other to test their abilities. This was the first time in seventeen matches that Naruto had won. For the last five, he had gotten close to winning, but had lost narrowly in the end. Any normal person would have given up in fighting the extremely sneaky fox, but there were some really powerful and nasty techniques on the line that Kyuubi had promised to teach him.

"**So you did brat. Okay then, meet me in the seal and I'll teach you a Shiton jutsu..."**

* * *

It was a bright, sunlit morning. The birds were chirping contently as they drank the morning dew from the leaves. They took flight as a young girl with long, silky brown hair walked through the forest. She was wearing a pink flowery kimono, and her beautiful dark brown eyes were drinking in the enchanting sight of the morning forest. Currently, she was looking for herbs to help... someone recover. As she walked, she came upon a rather discontenting sight. It looked as though a huge explosion had happened right in front of her. The earth had been turned into glass here and there, and dust that was once the trees was scattered across the ground. Concerned and disturbed a little bit, the girl crept cautiously along the swath of destruction. After a moment, she came upon an interesting sight; there was a young boy lying on the grass that came before the devastated area. He was dressed in a black shirt and pants with a battle chain wrapped around him, and a red-bladed scythe held loosely in his hand. Currently, the blonde was sound asleep. The girl suddenly realized that this wasn't just _any_ blonde; he was the one who fought against Zabuza the other day. Instinctively she reached for a senbon needle and crept up to him. She was about to stab him through the heart, but two things stopped her. One was her conscience telling her not to kill a helpless, sleeping boy (However strong and deadly he may be). The second thing that stopped her was a sudden vision that flashed in front of her eyes so fast that she was pretty sure she had been hallucinating. The vision only consisted of the boy being replaced by a leather-clad, flaming skeleton that was staring evilly at her, and a strange snarl **(A.N.: This vision is like when the Eye of Sauron flashes when Gandalf tries to pick up the Ring in LoTR 1)**. The girl froze when she saw this, and let a gasp slip out. This gasp woke the boy who bolted up and gripped his scythe. He turned and looked at her, and his tense expression relaxed.

"Whew, and I thought you'd be somebody dangerous." Naruto said out loud. The girl frowned.

"Why would you be worrying about me being dangerous?" she asked, raising a delicate eyebrow. Naruto raised himself from the still green earth and looked at her.

"You'd be surprised. What are you doing here anyways?" he asked while observing her. She looked to be a year or two older than him, and was very beautiful. She had a thin angular face, beautiful brown eyes and hair, full lips, porcelain-quality skin, and a... rather well developed chest which her kimono accentuated. Naruto shook his head to keep his imagination in check. She didn't seem to notice.

"I was trying to find some herbs to help someone heal." She responded as she looked around. "What the hell happened here?" she whispered to herself. Naruto heard her.

"Destroying things is therapeutic." He answered her question. She jumped slightly and stared at him. Naruto's eye twitched as her little jump had made her assets bounce about.

"You did all of this?" she asked incredulously. Naruto grinned. "Yup." He replied.

"... You must be a ninja then?" she asked him as she stopped and found what she was looking for. Naruto looked at her strangely as they crouched down in a small field of the herbs she was looking for.

"Yeah I am." He answered shortly. She was beginning to suspect that he knew something, but decided to feign ignorance.

"Well, could you tell me something?" she asked him. He nodded. "Why are you training?" she asked. This question caught him off guard.

"I am training so that people will acknowledge my strength. It has been my lifelong dream to become a great ninja; and to accomplish that dream, I must become immensely strong." Naruto reeled off as he stared absently at the sky.

"Hmm... I see. Tell me... do you have a precious person?" she asked him. Naruto looked at her, slightly confused.

"Someone whom you wish to protect. Someone who you would willingly give your life for." She explained. Naruto adopted a thinking pose as he considered her words.

'_Ojiisan, Iruka-sensei while I knew him, Hana-chan, Tenten, Hinata, _maybe _Sasuke and Sakura... I guess that I can say Shinigami-shishou as well...'_ he thought. "Hai, I do have precious people." Naruto answered. The girl looked him in the eyes.

"Well let me tell you this; when someone has a precious person to protect, only then will they grow truly strong." She said to him. Naruto nodded.

"Thanks for that, and for the company... uh... what _is_ your name? I'm Naruto by the way." He said to her. The girl smiled warmly at him.

"My name is Haku. And thank _you_ for the help and company Naruto." She said as she walked off. Naruto sighed; it was now or never.

"Haku," He called to her. She turned and looked at him questioningly due to the sudden serious tone of his voice.

"Tell me," he said in a serious tone. "Do you and Zabuza _really _want to work for a scumbag like Gato?" he asked. Haku's beautiful eyes widened.

"W-what are you t-talking about?" she stuttered out. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Don't play dumb with me; I know that you're working with Zabuza for several reasons. One, you smell the same as the 'oinin' that took Zabuza out. Two, your voices are absolutely identical. Three, your spirit aura is exactly the same as that oinin; a Corrupt that is not too late for redemption." He told her. Haku looked confused at the last part.

"I won't let you hurt Zabuza-san." She told him, reaching for a senbon needle. Naruto shook his head with a 'tsk, tsk, tsk.' noise.

"I have no wish to hurt him. I wish to help him out of his little bind." Naruto replied. Haku looked rather confused. "Gato is a scumbag; and an extremely greedy one at that. He cares nothing for those whom he hires or hurts. I don't believe he intends to pay you for your trouble of killing Tazuna, or letting you live for that matter. Gato will do anything to make sure that you and Zabuza will not be paid or spared." Naruto explained. Haku's face was blank, but her eyes told him that she believed him.

"Well what am I supposed to do about it? Zabuza-san will think you lied to me, and I'm fairly sure that Gato won't let us just go gallivanting about whenever we choose." She said to him. Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment before he looked her in the eyes.

"If you can manage it, bring Zabuza and meet me at that old clock tower on the east side of the town at midnight tonight. There, we can discuss how I can help you two. If Gato or his flunkies ask you where you're going, give them some bullshit excuse like 'I'm going to help Zabuza work his muscles' or 'We're going to spy on the ninja that are guarding the old man' or something like that." Naruto offered. Haku was still looking suspiciously at him.

"Oh, and I swear by pain of death that I will come with only one kunai. I expect you and Zabuza to come with only the same amount of armaments." Naruto turned and began to walk away, but stopped abruptly. "Oh, and if you don't show up, I will take that as an invitation to kill the both of you the next time I see you two. And believe me, that act will be something that I will feel guilty about for the rest of my life." Naruto informed her. He stepped into the shadow of a tree, formed three hand seals, and disappeared with a bang and a cloud of smoke. Haku was left standing there, pondering. After several minutes of mental conflict, she settled on a decision and ran back to the hideout.

* * *

It was five minutes to midnight, and there was a light drizzle falling from the sky. The occasional flash of lightning lit the dark purple sky, and illuminated the now deserted and derelict clock tower on the east side of the town. As a flash of lightning lit the sky, a crouching figure could be seen on the top of the tower. Naruto sat on the west side of the tower, poised like a gargoyle waiting to strike its prey. Perfectly still, Naruto watched the minutes pass. Four minutes... three minutes... two minutes... one minute... he was about to leave when the clock struck midnight when two figures appeared behind him, one supported by the other. Without turning around, Naruto rose from the ground.

"You came with the agreed amount of armaments?" he asked the shadowy figures of Zabuza and Haku.

"As you requested gaki." Zabuza replied curtly. "What is it that you wanted to, oh so urgently, talk to us about? We are your enemies after all." Zabuza told him. Naruto turned and stared at Zabuza coolly.

"You see, that's the variable in this equation. You two don't _have_ to be my enemy. The only real enemy here to all of us is Gato." Naruto drawled calmly. Zabuza looked both bored and intrigued with the latter being more so than the former.

"You've got my attention kid; start talking." Zabuza told him, trying to sit down and ended up falling onto his ass. Naruto snickered, but stuffed his fist into his mouth when he felt Zabuza start to leak killing intent. Quickly, he told Zabuza exactly what he had told Haku. At the end of the speech, Zabuza's face was devoid of emotion. But his eyes showed that he was lost in thought. After about thirty seconds, he looked Naruto straight into the eyes.

"I would agree to leave Gato if I knew where there was a place I could go where I could be safe from being hunted." He said to the boy, tilting his head to the side. Naruto smacked his head; he hadn't thought of that. He turned to the side and held his dangling left arm with his right. Staring off into the distance, he continued to think. After a moment of watching the sky to clear his thoughts, Naruto came up with a possible solution.

"Well... I suppose I _might_ be able to pull a few strings and get the Hokage to accept you two into Konoha's ranks..." Naruto offered. Two sets of eyes widened.

"You can do that?" Haku whispered, disbelieving. Naruto smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah I can. The Hokage thinks of me as a grandson... and I've got a load of stuff to blackmail him with." Naruto admitted as he pulled out a copy of the picture he gave the ANBU. Both nukenin took a look at it, and then fell down laughing their asses off. Naruto joined in after a moment. Many tears and busted guts later, the three of them wiped the tears from their eyes.

"Of course, you may not be trusted amongst the ninja population for a while. Or the civilian one once they figure out who you two are. But I'm sure that they'll accept you guys after a while." Naruto admitted. Zabuza and Haku didn't seem to bothered by that statement.

"We've had worse, right Haku?" Zabuza said, and Haku nodded. "Okay kid, how are we gonna convince your group that we want to join you Konoha wimps?" Zabuza asked. A vein popped out on Naruto's head and Zabuza chuckled.

"I'm just payin' ya back for all the eyebrow jokes the first time we danced." Zabuza told him. Naruto slumped in defeat, and a grey rain cloud appeared above his head that started to pour. He quickly shook it off and started to think.

"Well... maybe we could meet on the bridge tomorrow. The team is supposed to be working together to help finish the bridge. Of course, we'd have some convincing to do at that point." Naruto offered. Haku looked thoughtful.

"I really can't think of a better option, so I guess we'll go with that." She said. Zabuza nodded and tried to stand up. Haku had to help him.

"Well kid, I guess we'll see you tomorrow afternoon." Zabuza held out his hand to Naruto who shook it firmly. He backed up to the edge of the tower and raised his arms so they were directly parallel with the ground.

"Toodles." He said before letting himself fall backwards and off the building. Zabuza and Haku rushed to the edge, curious as to why the blonde would plummet to his death after this. They heard a roar, and they saw Naruto riding on the back of a flying dragon about fifteen feet long.

"Kid sure knows how to make an exit." Zabuza pointed out quietly.

"Hai," Was all Haku said in response.

* * *

The morning had been fairly quiet so far. Team Seven, Rin, and Kyuubi were helping to build the bridge. Sasuke was helping by heating the metal with his Katon jutsus so it could be bent more and fitted. Sakura was using Raijin to help fuse the bridge material together. Rin was using the monstrous strength that every medic-nin seemed to have to help lift or bend the beams, or hammer the pavement stones into place. Kakashi... was reading his book. Kyuubi was carrying the beams to where they needed to be. It had taken some convincing to prove to the workers that the fox was friendly and intelligent. It was only in the last hour or so that the workers had accepted that.

Naruto had created about 200 K.B.s who were all doing various jobs around the bridge. Tazuna had thanked him profusely, as the K.B.s pretty much replaced all of the workers that he had lost. They also added a few dozen extra workers to the load and decreased the time it would have taken to complete the bridge. While the nearly finished bridge should have taken another two days to complete, it was now finished by sundown. Once the bridge was completed, the workers stood together and were about to see them off.

"Well, well, what have we here?" came a snide voice from behind them. The five shinobi and all of the workers turned to the sight that greeted them. There stood a short, plump man in a suit surrounded by almost a hundred men, armed to the teeth. The workers shrank back in fear, but the five shinobi and immense fox stood resolute.

"I guess Zabuza won't have the pleasure of finishing you all. Not that I would've let him have that satisfaction anyways!" said the plump man whom Naruto guessed was Gato. He was about to say something, but a thin bank of mist began to roll in.

"Is that so Gato-teme?" whispered an all too familiar voice. No sooner had it stopped echoing about that two figures appeared in front of the five shinobi. Zabuza and Haku.

"So, you two little imps decided to show your ugly faces? Well go ahead and kill those idiots!" Gato commanded, tapping his cane on the ground. Naruto smirked and walked up and between Zabuza and Haku. Zabuza clapped a hand on Naruto's shoulder, as did Haku. Naruto placed his hand on Zabuza's shoulder, and his arm around Haku's waist. Needless to say, she blushed a little bit. Naruto's company was extremely confused.

"Glad you two decided to show up." Naruto said to the two of them.

"Yeah... so are we kid... so are we." Zabuza replied. Haku just nodded and smiled.

"Could someone tell me WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!?" Rin screamed. The other nin, Kakashi included, edged away from her. Naruto looked back at them.

"Zabuza and Haku are with us now. After we get rid of the Wave's vermin problem over there, they're coming with us to join Konoha." Naruto explained as he stretched out his hand to the side and called his scythe to his hand. Using his other, he unraveled his battle chain and slammed the spike against the bridge. Zabuza drew his huge zanbato. As he did, Naruto got a glimpse of some kanji near the beginning of the blade which read 'Kubikiri Houcho'. Haku drew several senbon needles and placed them in between her fingers.

"You three idiots think that you can defeat A HUNDRED MEN?! Don't make me laugh!" Gato shouted as his thugs readied themselves. For a moment, everything was still. A breeze blew by, and Naruto let out a war cry. Zabuza and Haku joined in yelling as they charged Gato's men. The fat man smirked as he retreated into the crowd, confident that his men would be able to stop the three nin as they charged. As he came upon the first of his opponents, Naruto swung his chain and imbued it with some of his Karite Chakra which he had just recently learned to control. The chain was immediately immersed in purple flames and cut through four or five thugs. Smirking, Naruto loosened his grip on his scythe and held onto the butt of it as he swung it around, the sound of rending flesh music to his ears. One of the thugs swung a large spear at him and Naruto was forced to block it. He toyed with his opponent before he snapped off a quick jab to the opponent's face and jumped back. He threw his chain with all his might, and imbued it with some wind chakra. The spike sailed through about four opponents and Naruto prepared a jutsu.

"Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu!" he cried as he sent a stream of fire along the chain. It seared through his enemies, and they screamed as they were roasted to death. Cackling madly, Naruto moved to find some more prey.

Zabuza had not had this much fun since he had slaughtered everyone at the Kirigakure Academy. He swung his sword and lopped off seven heads in a row. He thrust the blade of his sword into the ground and started to spin around on the handle, using his spiked boots to stab any of the vermin who dared approach him. He jumped away from his little ring of death and pulled his cleaver with him. Fourteen thugs stood ready to attack the nukenin. He grinned behind his bandage mask as he ran through a list of seals.

"Suiton: Suishoha!" he shouted. His mask broke as he spat an enormous wave of water from his mouth. His opponents were blown away, and he jumped off with a bestial roar to find some more targets.

Another thug fell dead with a needle piercing his carotid artery. Haku ducked another strike and slashed at her enemy's eyes. She heard a scream and assumed that she had blinded him. Carefully aiming, she threw her six needles at her three incoming foes. Two imbedded themselves into one's skull, two more flew into the second's heart, and the last two pierced the third's throat. All three of them dropped dead one at a time. She switched to taijutsu, hitting her foes in their lethal points while twisting and flipping around and off of their weapons. Several of them rushed her and she prepared one of her personal jutsu.

"Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suisho!" she called. A thousand or so droplets of water rose from the excess of Zabuza's Suishoha, and froze in the form of needles. She made a sweeping motion with her arms and the needles flew forward, impaling her foes. Their cries were like a professional symphony to Haku's ears. Giggling like a mad-hatter, she darted off and started to make more human pincushions.

Sakura, Kakashi, Sasuke and Rin looked on in shock at the carnage that was unraveling before them. Three nin were destroying almost a hundred armed men, one of them only a fresh Genin. Sakura was a little sickened, Kakashi and Rin were impressed a little, and Sasuke was enraged.

'_How does he do it? I've seen Naruto kill before, but now he's doing slaughtering people like it's NOTHING!! Who was so good to teach him how to be immune to the killing effect? WHO WAS THIS MASTER OF HIS?!?!?!?!'_ Sasuke was yelling inwardly. While his internal monologue was going on, Naruto, Zabuza, and Haku had finished destroying the small army and were now converging on Gato who was cowering in fear.

"Go ahead and beat him like the little baby he is you two, but don't kill him. I want to try and use a particularly torturous jutsu to kill him." Naruto said to the two Kiri nin. They simply shrugged and began to beat Gato black and blue. After about five minutes, Zabuza and Haku raised Gato up by his armpits. Naruto grinned in a way that was both sadistic and slightly insane as he reached into one of his pockets. Zabuza and Haku were curious as to why a kid like him would have a set of prayer beads on him. Naruto simply ignored their stares and slipped the beads onto his right arm. He closed his eyes and gathered some of his black Karite Chakra to his hand. Immediately, his hand became a transparent skeleton of a hand with demon runes etched on the bones.

"Karitepo: Shikon Tekishutsu no jutsu." Naruto whispered darkly as he plunged his ghostly hand into Gato. Zabuza and Haku gasped when Naruto pulled out a transparent object that they recognized as Gato's soul. Naruto completely tore Gato's soul from his body, the man turned purple, and the two Kiri nin dropped to the ground. Naruto then opened his moth and began to shove Gato's soul in. Zabuza and Haku watched in fascination and mild disgust as Naruto ate the last of Gato's soul, and licked his chops.

"Mmmm... cowards taste yummy... almost like honey-marinated steak." Naruto said off-handedly. Zabuza and Haku sweatdropped. Naruto looked at them and indicated that they should get going. The two Kiri nin collected themselves and followed the blonde boy as he walked back to the group. They were rather edgy even after Naruto explained what the two nukenin intended to do.

"Awww, I wanted to see the action!" came a voice from the side of the bridge. The group turned to see Inari with seemingly the rest of the village. Naruto chuckled.

"You did the right thing Inari; just not in time." Naruto said to him. The little boy ran up to him and hugged him around the legs as he began to sob.

"Will I see you again Naruto-niisan?" Inari choked out through his sobs. Naruto patted the kid's head.

"I'll be sure to come back and visit you kid. That's a promise." Said Naruto as he gave the 'Nice Guy' pose to Inari. Kakashi shuddered as he saw a tiny gleam on Naruto's teeth.

"Naruto, please don't do that again." Kakashi said to the blonde almost weakly. Naruto just shrugged as he walked through the crowd, team and elder nin in tow.

"So, what should we call this bridge?" Tazuna asked as he watched the seven ninja and giant fox disappear into the distance.

"THE GREAT NARUTO BRIDGE!" Inari shouted. The townspeople began to roar in approval. Tazuna smiled.

'_Naruto, we are truly indebted to you. Thank you.'_

* * *

It had been an uneventful trip as the seven nin ran through the forest. After four hours of running, the seven decided to set up camp. Zabuza, Haku and Naruto were all feeling rather tired. But as usual, nothing was perfect.

An explosion rocked the camp and the seven nin and demon fox were thrown from their feet. Tired, dirty, and pissed off, Naruto looked up at their assailant and gasped. From the trees dropped a blonde figure... in a black cloak with red clouds on it...

"Found you, yeah." Said the person as they grinned evilly.

* * *

**A.N.: FINALLY! It took me weeks to get this chapter done! Translations:**

Orioke no jutsu- Sexy Technique

Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu- Fire Release: Dragon Flame Technique

Onikyodai- Demon Brothers

Senbon Kage Bunshin no jutsu- Needle Shadow Replication Technique

Kaze no Gengetsu Yaiba- Crescent Moon Blades of Wind

Doton: Doryuu Yogeki- Earth Release: Earth Dragon Assault

Chi Bunshin no jutsu- Blood Replication Technique

Jutsu Hanshakyo- Technique Reflector

Sankon Tesso- Soul-Scattering Iron Claws

Raiton: Denki no Hara- Lightning Release: Field of Electricity

Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu- Water Release: Water Dragon Blast Technique

Futon: Furyudan no jutsu- Wind Release: Wind Dragon Missile Technique

Koshinuke- Coward

Vesi- (Finnish) 'Water'

Onipo: Yoroi no Kitsune- Demon Art: Fox Armour

Raiton: Raiko Senzai- Lightning Release: Lightning Garden

Katon: Kitsune-bi- Fire Release: Fox Fire

Raiton: Raiko Ame- Lightning Release: Lightning Rain

Futon: Gufukei- Wind Release: Tornado Whip

Suiton: Unabara Soso- Water Release: Ocean Funeral

Doton: Hari no Toko- Earth Release: Bed of Needles

Yonbi no Tsubame- Four-Tailed Swallow

Katon: Haisekisho- Fire Release: Ash Product Burning

Doton: Doryuuheki- Earth Release: Earth Style Wall

Doton: Dokado- Earth Release: Earth Vortex

Akuma Katon: Kukogoka no jutsu- Demonic Fire Release: Black Hellfire Technique

Shiton jutsu- Death Release Technique

Suiton: Suishoha- Water Release: Water Shockwave

Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suisho- Secret Technique: Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death

Karitepo: Shikon Tekishutsu no jutsu- Reaper's Art: Dead Soul Extraction Technique


	7. Exams

**The Reaper's Art**

_**By: Dirty Reid**_

**Chapter Seven: Exams**

**Just a warning, this will be a hell of a long chapter so you may wanna go to the bathroom right now! Afterwards, grab some popcorn!**

"Zetsu's black side speaking"

"**Oracle Speaking"

* * *

**

Naruto glared up at the blonde figure in the cloak. Truth be told, he couldn't tell whether their attacker was male or female. All he knew was this; one, his opponent was wearing the black cloak with the red clouds he had seen in his vision a while back. Two; the figure appeared to have mouths in his palms. And three; the attacker was riding on a huge-ass bird made out of clay.

'_Okay, this is one seriously weird fruitcake.'_ Naruto thought.

"**No shit kit."** Kyuubi threw in his two cents.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked, dusting her skirt off and gripping Raijin.

"That's Deidara; an S-class nukenin from Iwagakure, and a demolition and explosives master." Zabuza answered for her. Deidara looked at Zabuza while smirking.

"Glad you know of me, yeah. And you must be Momochi Zabuza." Deidara guessed, arms crossed. Zabuza smirked under his mask as he drew Kubikiri Houcho.

"So what if I am?" he sneered, holding his sword at ready.

"Oh, nothing. Kisame just speaks highly of you, that's all, yeah." Deidara responded. Zabuza scoffed. Haku was looking rather uneasy; she knew that Zabuza was rather tense at the moment. If her master was tense while fighting an opponent that meant that Zabuza _knew_ that the person was dangerous. Swallowing, she drew several senbon needles and prepared for an attack.

"Cut the pleasantries regarding colleagues you two. Why are you here?" Rin asked as she reached for a kunai. Deidara made a 'tsk, tsk, tsk' sound.

"My, aren't you the impatient one, yeah. I'm just here for the blonde kid. If you hand him over, I won't have to harm any of you, yeah." Deidara answered, reaching into the large bag that was sitting on the bird's back. With a casual flick of his fingers, Naruto unlatched his scythe from his back and glared at his opponent.

"The only way you're gonna get me is by a fight. And mark my words; I won't go down without leveling this entire forest at least." Naruto stated as he formed five demon seals and called upon his Karite Chakra. This was going to be risky. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" he cried as he slammed his hand into the ground. There was a huge blast of black smoke that lingered for a moment before it was blown away by the summons that flew out. Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, Rin, Zabuza and Haku all gasped at the sight. The summoned creatures were nine black dragons, but they had long necks, shaped like worms. Their heads were like bulbs with beady little eyes and huge mouths with yellow teeth. They had only two legs with extremely sharp talons and a long tail with small spines on the end of them. The beasts' wings were enormous; about twice as long as their bodies at least (**A.N.: In case you can't establish a connection, these dragons are based of the Ringwraiths' flying creatures in LotR)**. All nine of them roared at Deidara, who flinched in alarm.

"What the hell _are_ those things?" the pyromaniac asked.

"**We..."** they said in unison, creating an eerie reverberating tone. **"Are the Kyuu Ryuukyodai; your executioners!"** the nine called as they took to the air, Naruto riding on the leader, Ichi. The only way to tell the Kyuu Ryuukyodai apart was by the article that they wore. Ichi (The youngest) wore a dark gold helmet with a large spine on the top. Ni wore a black collar around his neck with small spikes. San wore an iron pauldron **(Like Sesshoumaru's shoulder armour from InuYasha) **over his right wing joint. Chi had his left wing pierced with a golden ring, much like an earring. Go had a large dark blue chest plate which could withstand any attack. Roku had a pair of pointed spines extending from the joint in his wing that could pierce through a block of lead. Nana wore a headpiece that made him look like a triceratops with wings. Hachi had a large lead bludgeon attached to his tail which, when enforced with chakra, was able to smash through anything. Finally, Kyuu (The eldest and leader) wore a set of golden gauntlets on his talons that had five foot claws on them. To add to that, Kyuu was a master of manipulating wind chakra. Huge metal claws plus wind chakra... you get the picture.

Deidara took to the air, followed closely by the nine brothers. The Ryuukyodai flew in a vertical circle formation, preparing an attack. They began to fly in a circle, faster and faster. Deidara and Naruto's allies watched in awe as the Ryuukyodai formed a blackish blur in the shape of a ring and announced:

"**Kyuu Ryuukyodai Waza: Shinigami no Ibuki!"** a huge tornado was formed in between the nine that was laced with green puffs of poison. The huge vortex of air screamed forward and engulfed Deidara who vainly tried to get out of the way. But his huge bird was slow and he was caught in the huge, poisonous vortex of death. Naruto simply crossed his arms and smirked.

'_Weakling.'_ He thought. But his eyes almost popped out of his head when Deidara stood there on the bird, arms held out in front, the mouths in the palms open wide.

"That was a powerful move, yeah. But these hands aren't just for moulding sculptures; I can also suck stuff into them, and render things like poison useless, yeah. How I do that is because of the special enzymes in my bodily fluids that bring my clay to life, yeah. I can also change the pH balance in these enzymes, making it either highly acidic or basic. This helps to break down poisons or other harmful substances, yeah." Deidara explained snidely. Just then, both of the palm mouths opened up and let out enormous belches that echoed around the area. Deidara chuckled as Naruto, the Ryuukyodai, and his company on the ground sweatdropped.

"Excuse me, yeah." The nukenin said sheepishly before throwing several small clay birds at Naruto and the dragons. Naruto wasn't sure what small clay birds like that could do, but based on Zabuza's description, he probably didn't want to find out.

"Scatter!" Naruto cried, and the nine brothers dispersed, flying about in random directions. The little birds started to follow the brothers, and exploded spectacularly about a moment later when Deidara yelled 'Katsu'. Naruto made a hand sign which meant 'huddle' to the other eight brothers. As they congregated into a tight group flying at high velocity, Naruto gave his orders.

"Okay, Ichi through Roku, you guys go and pick up the rest of the ninja on the ground and have them participate with the assault! But whoever picks up Sakura may be risking a bit because she doesn't have a lot of long range attacks!" Naruto commanded. The indicated dragons nodded and flew down towards the ground.

"OH NO YOU DON'T, YEAH!" Deidara yelled, as the bird charged towards the ground.

'_Shit!'_ Naruto thought as he quickly ran through a couple of seals. "KATON: DAIKAFUSHICHO HOGEKI!" he screamed as he launched an enormous blaze of flames which took the shape of an almost white phoenix. The fiery projectile screamed at Deidara's bird and collided with it, causing it to explode. The six dragons that were carrying the other ninja groaned.

"Aww, we picked up these rats for NOTHIN'?!" Ni shouted in annoyance.

"No, an S-rank nukenin like Deidara won't be defeated by a technique like that." Zabuza replied. And sure enough, Deidara came flying out of the trees on another clay bird; this one shaped more like a swallow than a fat hawk.

"That was a powerful technique, yeah. But it was slow, and that was a Nendo Bunshin anyways, yeah." Deidara sneered at them. The seven nin readied themselves. Grinning evilly, the nukenin flew at the nine dragons, expecting them to scatter. What he didn't expect was for one of San to blow out a flaming gust of wind, forcing the nukenin to manoeuvere his swallow out of the way. By now, Naruto had figured out that Deidara was a keen strategist. It was time to push some buttons.

"Hey Deidara, before we kill you, I have to ask; are you a guy or a girl?" Naruto asked. Veins immediately popped out in Deidara's face, which was now turning red.

"I'M A GUY YOU LITTLE DIPSHIT!" Deidara screamed at the top of his lungs. Zabuza threw back his head and laughed. This kid was one of those ninjas who could make cracks about his enemies and would get away with it. Naruto grinned; he knew which of Deidara's buttons to push now.

"Well excuuuuse me for not being able to identify an androgynous freak! I mean, look at yourself. Your voice is a little feminine, you could have breasts under that baggy cloak, and the way you wear your hair is just fruity!" Naruto explained/taunted, further enraging Deidara who stomped his foot and screamed childishly.

"I AM NOT GAY YOU LITTLE FUCK! SHI-NE!" Deidara yelled as he launched two handfuls of explosive clay birds at the Ryuukyodai and the riders. Roku shot multiple blasts of fire, all of which hit the explosives and created a huge cloud of dust. Deidara waited with gritted teeth for the coming onslaught. And it came; two dragons came barreling out from behind the smoke, attacks prepared.

"Katon: Hōsenka no jutsu!" Sasuke announced, blowing several dozen large fireballs out of his mouth. They flew at a high speed, and Deidara was hard pressed to dodge them all. One of the fireballs just missed his head and seared his hair a little bit.

"Suiton: Teppōdama Renda!" Zabuza cried, launching three large water bullets at Deidara. These bullets traveled extremely quickly, and were shot in a way that limited Deidara's movement. Deidara barely managed to move his swallow out of the way in time to dodge the three, but he missed the fourth bullet that Zabuza had delayed in firing. Deidara used chakra to anchor himself as his bird barrel rolled. Unfortunately, dodging the final bullet left him open for a split second, and stopped him from seeing Zabuza charge in and taking a swipe at him with Kubikiri. Deidara was able to dodge most of the swipe, but he was cut shallowly across the arm. Deidara grunted in pain, and braced himself for the coming attack from the pink-haired girl.

She threw multiple fistfuls of kunai straight up into the air. Deidara smirked when he saw the opening that he could manoeuvere himself through. What he _didn't_ see was the explosive notes wrapped around all of the kunai, or the final one that Sakura threw to intercept the storm of kunai.

"Sakura Fubuki no jutsu!" she cried, activating one of the explosive notes. It exploded, which caused another one close by to explode, which set off the rest of the notes. Deidara managed to yell "SHIT!" before scampering away. But he was not fast enough; the edge of the bomb caught up to him and seared his cloak and hair. Once the explosion cleared, Deidara could be seen, the flap of hair burned off a little bit. Sakura gasped when she saw the strange scope over his left eye. Deidara noticed.

"Nice, isn't it? It's a telescope and a camera as well, yeah. I use it for observing my targets, and taking pictures of places or things I want to blow up, yeah. It's also useful for dispelling Sharingan-made genjutsu, yeah." Deidara explained. Sakura grimaced as her dragon retreated.

Rin came flying in next. She had gathered chakra into the palm of her hand, but it was not medical chakra. She was holding her palm upwards and facing forward, cocked back as though to do a palm thrust. Deidara got a little worried when he saw her smirk.

"Haikiryō no jutsu!" Rin announced, thrusting her palm forward. And true to the name of the jutsu, a visible mass of air was pushed forwards, sending Deidara flying. Rin smirked; the Haikiryō no jutsu was her own personal creation. She had to saturate the air around her with chakra, but focus more towards her hand. However much air she wanted to displace was directly proportional to the circumference of the chakra disc she had to create. This meant that if she displaced a very large amount of air, she used up a lot of chakra. That thrust just took up about a quarter of her reserves. Panting, she asked her dragon to retreat.

Up next was Haku. She had a cold scowl on her beautiful face as she soared towards Deidara. Her dragon had to dodge several bombs as she flew at Deidara. Regaining herself and aiming carefully, she unsealed a circular gourd of water that she had been saving just in case a situation like this happened. Opening the gourd, she ran through several one-handed seals.

"Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishō!" she commanded. The water in the gourd spilled out and formed into the thousand ice needles. They formed a circle and flew at Deidara from all sides. The gender-queer nin flew every which way and twisted on his bird to avoid the needles. Multiple dozens were stuck in the bird, and a couple managed to hit Deidara himself. There were a couple in his arms and legs, and one or two had missed vital points in his neck. Wincing, Deidara pulled them out of his neck. That second cost him dearly.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan!" came a shout. Deidara looked up to see Kakashi exhaling a huge breath and breathing out a huge blaze of white hot flames which became a dragon. The dragon chased him around for a little bit, and eventually managed to catch up to him.

"YYEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!" Deidara's yelp of pain echoed through the forest.

"HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT _**HOT!!!!!**_" He screamed as he clutched his seared ass and jumped about. Kakashi sweatdropped before he fell down laughing.

Deidara was so busy making sure that his ass was okay that he did not notice Naruto under the cover of a genjutsu. Said blonde jumped across the clay bird's length and charged at the nukenin. Deidara heard him, turned, and was promptly given a knuckle sandwich. He flew off the bird and Naruto came after him. Naruto wrapped his chain around Deidara and reeled himself in for another punch. Deidara fell to the ground with a crash. He got up to see a bloodthirsty-looking Naruto waiting.

"_Ballo de la Sette Peccati Mortali!_" Naruto announced as he began to run circles around Deidara. The nukenin tried to discern where Naruto was, but all that he could see was a blur.

"_Uzzolo_!" Naruto announced. He broke from the ring he was running in and charged at Deidara. He began to jab Deidara with the butt of his scythe in the stomach, head, shoulder joints, and groin (_'That's gonna leave a mark later.'_ Naruto thought) before he kicked Deidara in the face, sending the nukenin flying.

"Gai Kage Bunshin no jutsu." Naruto quietly announced, and a replica of Jakyo appeared in Naruto's left hand. "_Invidia_!" Naruto called. He began to twirl in a circle; slashing Deidara multiple times and making him spin, thereby slashing his whole body. He finished the second dance with a double drop kick which knocked Deidara back a couple of feet. Remarkably, the blonde nukenin remained standing.

"_Rapacità!_" Naruto added as he dismissed the K.B. He began to swing Diabolus like a pendulum but stopped when Diabolus was perpendicular to the ground to swing it back and stab Deidara shallowly in the stomach. Deidara screamed in pain as he felt the cold, chakra-enhanced steel of the smaller blonde's scythe stab him ten times. After the tenth time, Naruto punched Deidara in the face, breaking his nose.

"_Avidità_!" Naruto shouted. He proceeded to stab Deidara through his palm mouths and break his arms. Deidara cried in agony, and that only increased when Naruto dislocated his kneecaps.

"_Pigrizia_!" Naruto added again. He kicked Deidara in the side, making him turn around. He then made a shallow upwards vertical slash on Deidara's back.

"_Fierezza_!" Naruto stated his sixth dance, which was the most simple of them all: All he did was cut off whatever the ninja he was facing prided the most, such as a Byakugan. Deidara's throat was so raw that he could not scream anymore when Naruto cut his hands off. As Naruto kicked him onto his back, he noticed a ring on Deidara's right index finger. Curious, he covertly picked it up with his toe and caught it in his hand. Naruto placed it in his pocket before he jumped into the air above Deidara. He raised Diabolus back and announced his final dance.

"_FURIA_!" Naruto roared as he began to descend. This 'dance' was simply stabbing the downed opponent through the heart. Deidara looked up at the Reaper that was descending upon him.

Just as Naruto was about to stab Deidara, a foot appeared out of nowhere and kicked him in the side of the head. Hard. Naruto skidded for about ten metres before he stopped and looked up at his attacker.

The attacker was also dressed in a black cloak with red clouds on it. His head was surrounded by strange, greenish growths that looked like the mouth of a venus flytrap. The person's face was split into a white and black half. Both of his eyes were yellow and pupil-less, and his hair was sea green.

"Oh, gimme a break! First we get attacked by some gender-queer freak, and now we get attacked by a fucking _venus flytrap_?!" Naruto complained loudly as he stood back up.

"Silence, gaki." Said the venus flytrap man in a robotic tone. "I did not come to fight, just to... pick up an old friend." He started speaking normally as he finished his sentence. He bent down and picked Deidara and the pieces of Deidara. He shook his head before turning his deep, baleful eyes to Naruto.

"We will meet again boy. And next time you will not be so lucky." Said the two faced man.

"Can I at least get a name?" Naruto asked innocently. The venus flytrap man snorted before he melted into a tree and vanished. Just as he had vanished, Naruto's six companions and the Kyuu Ryuukyodai landed on the ground.

"What happened here Naruto? Where'd Deidara get off to?" Haku asked as she looked around.

"Some freak that was black and white with yellow eyes and looked like a venus flytrap carted him off." Naruto responded as he got up off the ground. Kakashi's visible eye widened.

"You mean Zetsu was working with Deidara?" the cyclops asked. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, they were wearing the same clothes, and this Zetsu guy also had a ring like this one." Naruto pulled the ring he had taken from Deidara and examined it once he had wiped the blood off.

"Hmm... the Azure Dragon..." Naruto mumbled to himself.

"What was that, Naruto?" Sakura asked, eyeing the ring curiously.

"I just noticed the inscription on this ring says blue or green, which also represents the Azure Dragon. Zetsu had a ring like this, too. Only his said 'Boar' which also represents the Black Tortoise. I'm pretty sure that the guy I saw in a vi- dream- had a ring as well." Naruto explained as he examined the ring further.

'_Yo Kyuu, any idea what this means or what I should do?'_ Naruto asked.

"**Well kit, my advice is to go and see the Oracle."** Kyuubi suggested. Naruto looked at the ring and quickly agreed. Before he jumped onto Kyuubi, he slipped the ring onto his right index finger, the position Deidara had worn it on. He jumped onto his fox and fed it some chakra. Kyuubi grew to the size of a huge elephant and Naruto beckoned his company to join them. Once they had all gotten on, Kyuubi sped south, heading for where the oracle was hidden.

"Uh Naruto, Konoha is _that_ way." Kakashi pointed out. Naruto looked back at him.

"I know that Kakashi-sensei, but in light of recent events, I feel we need to make a little side trip." Naruto replied, turning back to his original position.

"And where exactly are we going?" Sasuke asked with a bored expression.

"To see the Oracle." Naruto shot back.

* * *

After galloping across the sea, and passing many islands, Naruto and his company had fallen into uncharted territory. It was an hour later that they came upon a small tropical island that was shrouded in mist. Naruto got off the fox, and was followed by the others. Kyuubi shrank to the size of a wolf and led them through the forest. Naruto followed the fox slowly, expecting something to jump out at them at any second. Luckily, nothing did.

After five or so minutes hiking, Naruto came to a large clearing. There was only a single tree that stretched into the sky for almost a hundred feet. What set it apart from other trees was that its leaves were blood red in colour. Along its smooth bark were mysterious looking runes that Naruto recognized as some long-dead demon text. Taking a deep breath and listening to Kyuubi's instructions, he knelt on the small stone pedestal in front of the tree.

"My mind is clouded, Great One. Lend me thy whispers." Naruto said to nobody. The rest of the ninja were looking at Naruto as though he were crazy. But seconds later, there was a loud rumbling noise. The earth in front of the tree seemed to just cave in to darkness. Not too long afterwards, dozens of greenish-grey tentacles shot out of the hole. They began to sink into the ground as they pulled out some gigantic creature that looked like a plant. Its head resembled a venus flytrap with four jaws, but also resembled a flat-snouted dragon **(The Oracle is kinda based off of the Flood Boss, Gravemind, from Halo 2)**. The Oracle had no eyes, nor any leaves despite looking like a plant. Although it lacked eyes, the Oracle appeared to be able to see Naruto because it wrapped one of its tentacles around him and lifted him up.

"**You come seeking knowledge, little Reaper."** The Oracle stated. The voice was so low and slow that Naruto almost couldn't understand the words that had been said. Behind them, the six other ninja were watching the scene unfold in front of them.

"I do seek knowledge Great One, and only you may answer my queries. My concerns are spawned by a group of cultists, who operate upon cryptic motives that I wish to be privy to." Naruto answered. The Oracle raised its head and 'gazed' off into the distance. Silence ensued for a moment.

"**The cultists****' motives are cryptic and malignant. Their quest is to find the nine Heathens and use their power as their own. Their key to the door is being assembled, but it cannot be turned without the nine pieces."** The Oracle answered. While in Hell, Shinigami had told him that the Oracle would always be cryptic in his answers, as Naruto just found out.

"Is there any way to stop the key from being assembled? Or for the ambitions of the cultists to be skewed?" Naruto asked the huge plant-like Relic. There was silence as the huge Relic 'glanced' back up into the greyish, cloudy sky.

"**There is one way to stop the key from being completed, and the door from being unlocked.**** The Heathen Brethren must join together to become the final shard of the key. Combined power and friendship will ultimately be the sword plunged into the breast of evil."** The Oracle answered. Naruto summed up what the huge Relic had told him: These nukenin want the power of the nine Bijuu so the can take over the ninja world. By banding together, the group of nukenin can be stopped.

"I see. Thank you, great Oracle; you have been most helpful." Naruto thanked the Oracle with a bowed head. Just as he was about to be put down, a voice came from behind him.

"Oi, Oracle or whatever you are. I've got some questions that I want answers to." Came the arrogant voice of Sasuke who was standing on the pedestal. Naruto smacked his head and groaned. The Oracle growled and snatched Sasuke up by the leg.

"Hey, what the hell?! Aren't you supposed to answer questions, you big plant?!" Sasuke demanded, scowling angrily. The Oracle snarled, and a brownish gas came from its enormous mouth.

"**I do not grant my wisdom to the insolent and disrespectful. You, little ****scourge, show no respect to anyone, deceived into believing you are superior to all beings because of a gift. However, as you are desperate, I will look into your future and grant you knowledge."** The Oracle chuckled, but it was not an amused chuckle. It was practically oozing with malice. Sasuke gulped nervously and Naruto watched in amusement.

"**You are weak****, scourge, and your weakness is fueled by your rage. No manner of power will grant you the ability to complete or accomplish your obsession. Attempting to become stronger will only lead to your downfall. Therefore you must abandon your vendetta."** The Oracle recited to Sasuke who was now bristling in rage. Telling him to stop trying to kill his brother was like telling Naruto to give up on ramen; impossible.

"Shut up! What the hell do you know about me, you big weed?!" Sasuke shouted. Naruto smacked his head and groaned again.

"_**Everything."**_ The Oracle responded menacingly before slamming Sasuke into the ground. Naruto winced; that must've hurt.

"Once again, I thank thee Oracle. I must be on my way now." Naruto thanked the huge being again.

"'**Twas my pleasure, little Reaper."** The Oracle replied as he gently set Naruto back onto the pedestal. With the sounds of the ground shifting, the Oracle receded back into the void. Naruto turned back to his mystified company. Zabuza, Rin, and Kakashi were all staring at him. Sakura was swooning over Sasuke's unmoving body. Naruto rolled his eyes and cast a genjutsu over Sakura, making her believe that her lips were sewn together. She started to tug at her lips which were firmly pressed together. As Naruto went to pick up Sasuke, his vision went black…

Several scenes flashed before his eyes. The first scene was of a snake-like man long black hair and an Otogakure hitai-ate. But what was disturbing was the yellow, slitted, snake-like eyes. The snake man extended her neck, and bit down on Sasuke's neck. When he removed his fangs, a strange mark that resembled the tomoe in a Sharingan was on Sasuke's neck.

There was a bright flash of light and the scene changed. Sasuke was featured again, but he had changed. A purplish-black chakra was emanating from him, and strange black marks covered the left side of his body. Sasuke said something, but Naruto couldn't discern it. While visions granted him future insights, they had no sound. Sasuke evaded some sort of Futon jutsu from an Oto ninja, and proceeded to brutalize him until Sakura hugged him. This hug made the strange chakra recede, and Sasuke reverted to his normal form.

The scene changed again. This time it was him and Sasuke charging at each other. Sasuke had some sort of ball of electricity in his hand, while Naruto had a swirling mass of compressed chakra in his palm. As they were about to connect, Kakashi threw them into a pair of water towers. Sasuke smirked when he saw that his dent was bigger than Naruto's. But when Sasuke jumped down behind the towers, he cringed in shock and anger when he saw that Naruto's attack had blown out the whole tower.

The scene changed again. This time Sasuke was speaking to four strange others. Only one wore a hitai-ate, and that identified him as an Oto nin. Said nin with said headband had six arms. His company was a fat guy with a red mohawk, a blue-haired dude with makeup and a second head, and a hot redhead with some weird hat on. The guy with two heads gave Sasuke some sort of pill. Sasuke fell unconscious, and the four sealed him in some sort of barrel.

The scene flashed again, and there was Sasuke. But this time, he looked like some sort of vampire with a weird tattoo on his nose, grey skin, long, wild hair, and wings shaped like hands protruding from his back. He was currently staring fearfully at Naruto who had transformed into the Ghost Rider. Sasuke charged up the strange Raiton jutsu, and Naruto pulled a fistful of flames from his head. He began to compact them until they had become a yellow-white ball of light. The two charged…

Another scene change. This time, Sasuke was lying at the feet of a snake-like man who had the same eyes as that Kusa nin from the forest in his first vision segment. The odd man burst out of his skin to reveal a snake _made_ of snakes. He then devoured Sasuke, and after a few minutes the snakes took the form of Sasuke's body, but his face remained before it peeled off like a mask. But the snake man's eyes still remained. The eyes then became the bright red of the Sharingan and the snake man began to laugh sinisterly before putting his peeled off face back on.

Everything went black, and the jungle of the Oracle's island came back into his vision. Zabuza, Haku, Kakashi and Rin were all looking at Naruto strangely.

"Are you okay Naruto-kun? You spaced out and looked a little bit freaked out for a moment." Haku asked the blonde, her brown eyes showing evident concern. Naruto shot a covert glance over to his two teammates; Sasuke was still out cold, and Sakura was still under the genjutsu. He beckoned the curious Jounin, nukenin, and hot female apprentice to come closer.

"I just had another vision of the future." Naruto told them. Kakashi's visible eyebrow rose slightly and he put his book away. Zabuza, Haku and Rin looked confused but said nothing.

"This time there was some pale freak with snake eyes that put some sort of seal on Sasuke. The scene changed and Sasuke was using this seal, but it turned out to be some sort of corrupted seal because he beat the shit out of an Oto nin and looked about ready to kill him. The scene changed to Sasuke using some weird Raiton jutsu and me using some swirling chakra sphere. Kakashi-sensei, you deflected us and threw us into two water towers. Sasuke made a bigger dent in his, but I completely blew the back outta mine. The next scene had Sasuke getting sealed into a weird seal barrel by a couple of Oto goons. After that, it showed a vampire/monster Sasuke charging at me with that Raiton jutsu again. The last scene was Sasuke getting eaten by some snake freak, and said freak taking the form of Sasuke, Sharingan included." Naruto explained. Kakashi was looking a little apprehensive (Or at least, his eye had apprehension in it.).

"What did this Raiton jutsu look like?" Kakashi asked Naruto who struck a thinking pose.

"It looked like a ball of handheld electricity. Why do you ask sensei?" Naruto looked at his sensei with his head cocked to the side.

"I think you were seeing the Chidori, one of my original jutsu." Kakashi explained. Zabuza was looking thoughtful.

"So what you're saying this vision was, was that you saw the Uchiha becoming corrupted, him running from Konoha, and Orochimaru taking his body to get the Sharingan?" the nukenin asked matter-of-factly.

"How do you know it was Orochimaru?" Rin asked as she stared at Zabuza.

"I know for a fact that only one ninja in the Elemental Countries looks like a snake, and that ninja is Orochimaru." Zabuza replied. Naruto was mulling over his vision.

"Okay sensei, listen carefully; as I told you before, my visions are not set in stone. I think that the easiest way to deter this vision from becoming true is to keep Sasuke from learning that Chibari… Chikara… whatever the hell it's called. If he meets up with a weird Kusa nin and gets bitten, he gets taken outta the ninja program for a bit while the seal is dealt with. That's pretty much all I can think of right now…" Naruto trailed off as he ambled over to pick up Sasuke, and released the genjutsu on Sakura.

"I think we should get going; this jungle's starting to… to… ah… ah… AH… AH-CHOOO! Bake by allerdgies acd ub." Naruto said through a stuffy nose.

Cue sweatdrop on the conscious team's and additions' part.

* * *

It was three days later that the 'Konoha no Nananin Shu' were back at the eastern gates of Konoha. As they approached the gates, a squad of four ANBU dropped from the sky and surrounded the traveling group.

"Hatake Kakashi," a turtle-masked ANBU began. "Why is there a dangerous S-rank nukenin traveling with you, along with several unknown shinobi?" she finished emotionlessly. Kakashi was about to answer when Naruto interjected.

"Momochi Zabuza, nukenin of Kirigakure wishes to be instated as a shinobi of Konoha, as does his apprentice Haku. Rin is a registered kunoichi of Konoha." Naruto stated plainly. The ANBU regarded him, although it was impossible to tell what her emotions were.

"Very well, we will escort you to Hokage-sama's office to inform him of your intentions. Any attempts by the unknown ninja to escape will result in instant death, understood?" she received a round of nods from Zabuza, Haku, and Rin. The ANBU signaled for the gates to be opened. As they opened, the ninja convoy jumped to the rooftop and began to head for the Hokage Tower.

Once they had reached the tower, the four ANBU escorted them into the Hokage's office. Sarutobi looked up from his paperwork and visibly tensed when he saw Zabuza.

"Mission success, Hokage-sama." Kakashi stated as he placed his hands in his pockets.

"Excellent Kakashi, but can you explain why there is an extremely dangerous nukenin in my office, as well as two unknown nin?" Sarutobi asked as he regarded Zabuza coldly. Said nukenin gulped a little; he was pretty sure that the temperature in the room just dropped a couple of degrees.

"Hokage-sama, I, Momochi Zabuza, offer my allegiance to Konoha, as does my apprentice Haku." Zabuza stated, giving a polite bow. Haku followed suit. Sarutobi was looking like he had just came face to face with Shinigami himself.

"And why would someone such as you wish to join the Leaf?" Sarutobi asked, genuinely confused. Zabuza raised himself from his bow, and fixed the middle-aged man with a neutral stare.

"I have become tired of running from the oinin of my country. It is not my safety that I am concerned about, it is Haku's. I do not wish to put anybody else in the danger of being hunted and assassinated, especially one whom I consider a daughter." Haku looked a little teary at Zabuza referring to her as a daughter. The Sandaime remained emotionless for a moment.

"Is Haku officially registered as a ninja?" he questioned. Zabuza shook his head. "What level would you put her at?" Sarutobi added.

"I cannot say for sure. However she does have the qualities of an oinin; the speed, stealth, anatomical knowledge, and intelligence. But I don't believe that she's ready for that level of ninja responsibility." Zabuza answered the Hokage. Sarutobi nodded and looked at the girl before him.

"What level of nin would you like to start at Haku?" he asked Haku, who looked a little surprised that he wanted her opinion. She looked away for a moment as she thought.

"If it is acceptable Hokage-sama, I would like to join Konoha's ranks as a Chuunin." Haku requested, staring at Sarutobi hopefully. He smiled as he raised hi pipe.

"Of course, my dear; I will instate you as a Chuunin and your master as a Jounin after he stands trial to decide whether he can be admitted to Konoha." Sarutobi answered. He ordered one of the four ANBU guards to show Haku to her temporary lodgings, and asked the other three to escort Zabuza to the council room to stand trial. Once the Kiri nin and his apprentice were gone, he turned to the five remaining ninja and examined Rin.

"I feel as though I've seen you before…" Sarutobi said as he took in Rin's features.

"Uh… do I know this guy?" Rin whispered to Kakashi.

"It's still the Sandaime. Ask Naruto about it later." The cyclops replied. Rin shrugged and turned back to the Hokage.

"You can't recognize me Ojiji? Let me give you a hint; Obito loved me." Her head drooped a little as she uttered the clue. Sarutobi's eyes widened.

"Rin?" he whispered almost in disbelief. "We thought you were dead!" he exclaimed.

"No, not dead; just hiding. For the last fourteen years I've been traveling from country to country, helping who I can. Kakashi-kun and his team found me in Wave when I was trying to find any way to try and bring Gato down." Rin explained. The Sandaime nodded slowly.

"Oh, and I tried to gather other useful or relevant information on my travels. This little piece is going to interest you. About two weeks ago, I was passing through Suna. While I was there, I'm pretty sure that I spotted your traitor of a student talking with the Kazekage. I didn't hear a lot of the conversation because I could've been caught if I got any closer, but I distinctly heard 'Konoha', 'Exams', and 'Destroy'. I think that the Kazekage and Orochimaru were plotting an assault on Konoha during the upcoming Chuunin Exams, so I would start to get security in gear and prepare for a fight." Rin explained gravely. The Sandaime was looking rather disturbed at the information.

"I see. Thank you for that information Rin. Do you wish to stay, or will you continue to travel?" Rin shook her head no. "Okay then, I shall reinstate you as a Jounin and allow you to choose what to do from there." Sarutobi told her as he dismissed her.

"Now, Team Seven, was there anything else you wished to tell me?" he asked.

"Yeah we do; where do you pick up the bounty for nukenin?" Naruto asked immediately.

"Down at the payment desk Naruto. Why do you ask?" Naruto just smirked and pulled out his scroll. He poured some chakra into one of the sealing points, and out popped Aoi's head. Sarutobi's eyes widened.

"You killed Rokusho Aoi?" he whispered, shock apparent.

"Yeah. It wasn't easy though." Naruto admitted. "And if it's okay, I let Sakura keep Raijin. She needed it." Naruto explained. Sarutobi nodded and sent Naruto and his teammates off to collect their payments. Naruto was ecstatic when he received 500 000 ryou for removing Aoi from the Bingo Book. Payments collected, the team went their separate ways. Sakura went to find the kenjutsu teacher Sarutobi recommended, Sasuke went off to brood, Kakashi went to wherever he went when he wasn't around, and Naruto set off to find Team Gai.

* * *

The next couple of weeks were fairly eventful. The verdict of Zabuza's trial was that he would be able to stay in Konoha if he did no wrongs under six months of probation and surveillance. Haku, now a Chuunin, took over the kunoichi training program at the ninja Academy (By force). Needless to say, there were many complaints from parents when the kunoichi in training said that their new teacher didn't teach them anything about what they had learned such as flower-pressing or how to conduct a tea ceremony. Haku replied simply:

"If your little girls can't handle what a kunoichi is supposed to do, take them out of the Academy. And I don't give a shit if your daughter is tired at the end of a day because shinobi _die _on the battlefield. Can't keep up with the other racers? Well then forfeit the competition." She spat at the indignant parents and coddled children. Many children were withdrawn when Haku began to run a much tighter, harder ship.

Zabuza was enjoying Konoha very much. He told Naruto that Konoha was much friendlier than Kirigakure, although his home country was run by a tyrant. He had had Kubikiri Houcho finished, and the zanbatou now looked more intimidating than ever. The blade had been sprayed with a black, non-reflective coating, so it was much easier to use on a moonlit night or in a lit room. Zabuza also used a special fuuinjutsu on the blade, so that it would take on some characteristics from the wielder. The fuinjutsu made the sword grow several spikes along the blade that looked like teeth. It also granted Zabuza the ability to use chakra to create energy whips that extended from the sword, or to manifest things such as clawed hands or satanic heads from it. All of these manifestations could do damage, and were somehow made from dark red chakra.

With his newly finished blade, Zabuza demanded that Naruto spar him every once in a while. Naruto was only too happy to oblige him. They started an 'eternal rivalry' somewhat similar to Kakashi and Gai's gimmick. But their rivalry was confined to less obscene challenges such as armed combat matches, races around the village, and who could hold their breath underwater longer. The current stats were: Naruto- 12 Zabuza- 11.

Naruto was asked by both Team Eight and Ten to teach them things. With Team Eight, he was asked by all three of the Genin, and Kurenai, to teach them some ninjutsu. Kiba mainly wanted to learn the Karyuu Endan so he could counter Naruto. His bubble was burst when Naruto told him that it was a B-ranked jutsu, and that he had done it without the seals for so long that he had forgotten them. Shino could only learn lower level jutsu, due to the Kikai bugs sucking the chakra out of him constantly. Hinata had already discovered her affinity for Suiton jutsu, so she was naturally delighted to learn some of Naruto's jutsus such as the Kirigakure no jutsu, Suiton: Suishōha, and Suiton: Teppōdama. Kurenai had an affinity for Katon jutsu. Naturally, she got to learn a lot of them. She had upgraded her Narakugan to the middle part of Level Two. Most of her genjutsu were nigh unbreakable now, and she had little trouble with her telekinesis.

Team Ten was one of the more lacking teams. When they asked Naruto to teach them some powerful ninjutsu, he told them that they would have to start at the basics for several reasons; Chouji was slow, Ino was weak, and Shikamaru was both. The first thing he did was get them some chakra-sucking weights. These weights continuously drained a steady amount of chakra from the wearer's body, forcing them to produce more. Needless to say, all three of the Genin were complaining. Naruto stopped them from doing so when he threatened to bring up a Rashōmon gate and send them straight to Hell. That shut them up immediately. Once Naruto was sure that their chakra reserves had doubled at the very least, he taught them a couple of jutsu. Ino turned out to have a Futon affinity. Chouji, a Doton. And Shikamaru, a Raiton. Naruto taught them a couple of lower level jutsus for their elements, as well as drilled them on taijutsu. He wasn't surprised when he learned that all three of them were exceedingly lacking in that area. Naruto began to teach them some karate... well, more like drove it into them like a drill into wood. When Shikamaru started saying that Naruto's slave-driving was troublesome, Naruto put some Karite chakra into his weights. This instantly quadrupled them, and Naruto ordered the slacker to run five laps around the village while being chased by a house sized Kyuubi. Naruto was actually pretty surprised at how fast Shikamaru could run when his life was on the line. Ino was motivated by her desire to win Sasuke from 'Forehead Girl' AKA Sakura. Why girls swooned over the arrogant douche bag, Naruto would probably never know. Chouji would constantly shirk his training to eat snacks. Naruto quickly saw to that problem by robbing Chouji of his food and eating it in front of him. This was a bad tactic; Chouji lost all form of rationality when someone ate food in front of him and never bothered to share it. Naruto was pounded into the ground by a raging giant enough times that he abandoned this tactic on the second or third time. After almost a month of Naruto's torture style training, Team Ten was a ferocious fighting force.

While he granted the wishes of Teams Eight and Ten, Naruto spent most of his time with Gai's team. With Team Nine, Naruto began to teach them the basics of learning to skate. They had thought it looked easy when Naruto began to glide over the icy water. They were rudely awakened when they all fell down at the same time. But after a week, they could skate along the ice satisfactorily. Naruto began to teach them the first part of the Kurogane Renge once they could all perform a heel toss with a partner, and a butterfly kick. This part of the teaching gave way to some sprained ankles, a lot of bruises, and a concussion for Neji. At the end of a month, Team Gai was able to perform the Kurogane Renge perfectly six times out of ten. Unfortunately, a small snag presented itself; none of the skaters could perform jutsu to turn water into ice. Kyuubi presented an answer to the problem when he gave Naruto the formula for a capsule that turned any liquid or surface into ice.

Naruto began to train with the individuals of Team Gai as well. With Lee, he practiced with his speed, and endurance. With his newly repaired chakra coils, Lee had picked up a couple of jutsus over the past couple weeks. With his immense strength, Lee had managed to learn, from the Hokage himself, Doton: Retsudotenshō. This jutsu made the earth in a wide area spiral in on itself which crushed the enemy, or buried them alive. Another useful jutsu that lee picked up while on a mission to Iwagakure was the Doton Kekkai: Dorōdōmu. This jutsu created a dome around Lee's opponent that would allow him to absorb their chakra. But when he had used it on Neji, the Hyuuga had discovered the weakness of the Dorōdōmu; the back of the dome (Relative to Lee's position) was weaker than any other point in the dome. In a brilliant stroke of inspiration, Lee fixed the problem by using three K.B.s placed at ninety degree intervals around the dome to eliminate any weakness in the dome. In short; if Lee caught you with this jutsu, you were done for.

Lee, after discovering that the Chuunin and Jounin level Doton jutsu he used took far less chakra than they should, found that he had an inhuman affinity for Doton jutsu. His affinity was so great that it could almost start to compare to the Gobi's power. In that light, Lee began to create his signature jutsu; the Doton: Madojuu no Yoroi. This jutsu would create a huge golem of earth that would surround Lee like armour. If the golem was damaged, Lee could repair it from inside; a task that took surprisingly little chakra. He could also extend parts of the golem into appendages such as spikes or hammers. The only disadvantages were that the golem was slow, and took a significant amount of chakra in order to maintain. But despite these powerful jutsu, Lee still used only taijutsu unless it was a life or death situation that absolutely required ninjutsu.

Naruto practiced taijutsu with Neji. Although he could not learn the Juuken style, Neji taught him a little about it. In return, Naruto offered to teach Neji another fighting style and some jutsus. When Neji refused and Naruto asked why, he responded:

"Learning a new taijutsu style and jutsus would cheapen the pure form of the Hyuuga style." Was what he said. Naruto simply rolled his eyes and responded:

"Said the wrinkled old douche bags that are your council. Listen Neji; specialization leads to stagnancy. Stagnancy leads to weakness. Weakness leads to death. And besides, what if you somehow found yourself unable to use chakra? The Juuken style would be useless. That's where the second style comes in handy. And as for the jutsus, what if you found yourself up against an opponent that was better at middle and/or long range combat? You can't exactly Juuken long distances."

Neji was unable to argue at this point, so he conceded to learn a new style. Unsurprisingly, Neji learned the basics of Kung Fu quite quickly. The movements were fluid and fast like water, somewhat like the Juuken style. When the jutsu training came along, Neji discovered his affinity for lightning. Naruto didn't know a lot of Raiton jutsus, but he taught Neji what he could. Neji mastered the Denki no Hara quite easily. Naruto was a little impressed when Neji incorporated that jutsu into one of his Hyuuga defensive jutsus to create the Hakkeshō Raiton: Raijin no Kaiten. This jutsu was similar to the Kaiten, but electrocuted anyone who came in contact with it. It also randomly shot lightning bolts out at any heat source nearby.

Another jutsu Neji came up with was the Raiton: Rairyuudan no jutsu. This jutsu was essentially the same as the Suiryuudan, simply made of lightning. When Neji was having trouble keeping the dragon stable, Naruto suggested some sort of conduit for it. Neji returned the next day with a short sword made of high carbon steel. It was about two feet long. The handle was made of a tough, heat-resistant material, and the hilt was hooked. The blade was straight for a while, but swelled towards the tip. With his new sword Hyakurai, Neji could control his Raiton jutsus to a much finer degree. Hyuuga Neji was now a well feared close and mid-range combat expert.

Naruto began to spend more time with Tenten as well. And it was not just to help her train with her chain sword, Hiryuu. They began to do simple things like take a walk or have a picnic in the Konoha Botanical Garden when they weren't training. If one were to see the two together, that person would probably think that Naruto and Tenten were a perfect couple. And indeed, Tenten thought that they would be a perfect couple when she asked Naruto out on a date. To say he was shocked was an understatement. He stopped mid-stride and his eyes became the size of dinner plates. His mouth fell open and he babbled like a cretin for a moment before he gained a sombre expression and took a hold of her hands.

"Tenten, I'm really sorry, but I'm already taken. If I were still single, I would've said yes in a second, but I'm not. Again, I'm really sorry Tenten, but I hope we can stay good friends." Naruto told her as he stared into her eyes. Tenten broke his gaze and backed away a little bit without saying anything. She lowered her head and turned away, but Naruto had seen the tears fall from her eyes. A painful twinge resounded in his heart.

"**That wasn't very nice, kit."** Kyuubi said from inside his head.

'_Hana-chan would've killed me if she caught me cheating on her!'_ Naruto snapped back. Inside his cage, Kyuubi shuddered; Naruto was probably right.

"**Speaking of your girlfriend kit, why don't you go and see her? You haven't talked to her since you got back from your mission."** The fox said. Naruto nodded and set off to Hana's veterinary shop.

The shop was a large one. Although it was only two floors, it spanned for a significant amount. As Naruto walked in, his senses were immediately assaulted by the scent and sounds of multiple animals. Naruto grinned as Hana woke from her slumber at the small desk near the back of the lobby.

"Naruto-kun!" Hana chirped happily as she jumped over the desk and caught Naruto in a bear hug. A tiny trickle of blood began to run down Naruto's face, due to Hana unintentionally pressing Naruto's face into her bust.

"I missed you! Why haven't you come to see me more often?!" Hana demanded as she released him and placed her hands on her hips in an adorable pout.

"Gomen Hana-chan, I've just been kinda busy in the last couple of weeks." Naruto admitted, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Oh? Like doing what?" she asked, staring at Naruto with a fake stern face.

"Why don't we take a walk and I'll tell you?" Naruto offered, opening the door for her. When she began to protest, he created a K.B. and Henge'd it into a large sign that read 'Being Walked'. Hana scowled and bopped Naruto on the head for the mean joke. But she kissed his head all better when he got back up from the ground.

On the walk, Hana listened with rapt attention to his mission tale. She was particularly awed when he told her that he had taken Rokusho Aoi out. But when he got to the part about Naruto persuading Zabuza and Haku to come back to Konoha, she got a little disbelieving.

"I'm serious Hana-chan! Momochi Zabuza came back to Konoha with us!" Naruto exclaimed, waving his arms for emphasis. Hana simply smiled like a mother to a small child and patted his head condescendingly.

"Sure he did Naruto-kun; I'll believe it when I see it." She said dismissively to Naruto who began to whine like a puppy who wanted a treat. The expression vanished when Naruto noticed someone in the crowd.

"Hey 'Buza! Get your sword-toting ass over here!" Naruto called. Hana raised an eyebrow, but her jaw dropped open when none other than the Kirigakure no Kijin came strolling over to the couple, sporting a brand new Jounin vest. Naruto also noted that Zabuza's Kiri hitai-ate was now tied around his right bicep, and his Konoha one was now sitting on his forehead.

"What's up, eternal rival?" Zabuza asked, as he surveyed Naruto. His eyes wandered over to a gaping Hana. "Who's the babe?" Hana shut her mouth and blushed.

"She's my girlfriend, Inuzuka Hana. Hana-chan, this is my 'eternal rival' Momochi Zabuza." Naruto introduced the two. Hana shook Zabuza's hand a little reluctantly.

"He's not going to bite you Hana-chan. I told you that he's with Konoha now." Naruto said to Hana. Zabuza raised a nonexistent eyebrow. Naruto began to snicker. Zabuza ground his teeth and shut his eyes.

"Anything else you wanted gaki?" Zabuza asked the blonde.

"Oh yeah, I wanted to give you this." Naruto said as he pulled a small envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Zabuza. The swordsmaster opened the envelope, and his eyes bugged out when he saw 375 000 ryou; three quarters of the bounty on Rokusho Aoi's head.

"Why are you giving this to me kid?" Zabuza asked, flabbergasted.

"Because you and Haku need it more than I do. Think of it as another way of saying thanks for helping us." Naruto said to Zabuza. A moment of silence ensued before Zabuza shook Naruto's hand.

"Thanks Naruto. I'd love to stay and chat but I've gotta report to Hokage-sama for a mission, so see ya!" Zabuza bade the couple farewell as he jumped out of the crowd to the rooftops. Naruto turned to a gaping Hana and smirked arrogantly.

"I told ya, didn't I?" he asked her nastily. Hana just 'Hmph'd' and turned her nose up, making Naruto laugh. They walked in a comfortable silence through Konoha's Botanical Garden, taking in the sights and smells of Konoha's wildlife. That is, until a particularly loud voice interrupted them.

"NARUTO-KUN!" came the all too familiar voice. Said blonde froze as a loud thunder approached. He turned to see none other than Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast Jr. approaching him. Hana's eye twitched when she saw Lee's attire as he stopped.

"Naruto-kun, what most unyouthful act did you perform to dampen Tenten's flames of youth?!" Lee demanded, giving Naruto his best 'angry glare'. Unfortunately for Lee, his 'angry glare' made him look rather comical. Hana was biting her lip to keep a giggle from coming out.

"Uh, what are you talking about Lee?" Naruto deadpanned, the proverbial halo of question marks floating about his head.

"I saw Tenten sitting on a bench, crying. When I asked her why her flames of youth had been dampened when I saw her crying, she told me 'Naruto'. That is why I am questioning what most unyouthful act you did to her!" Lee proclaimed, the 'flames of youth' now burning in his bug eyes, and his caterpillar-like eyebrows twitching. Hana was now looking rather creeped out. Naruto screwed up his face in concentration. A look of comprehension crept over it a second or two later.

"Well Lee, Tenten asked me out on a date. Unfortunately for her, I'm already taken." Naruto explained. To make sure Lee believed him, he wrapped his arm around Hana's slim waist. Hana instinctively let her arm slip up around Naruto's shoulders. Lee raised one of his eyebrows. Barely a tenth of a second later, he smiled hugely and went into a 'Nice Guy' pose.

"YOSH! You have chosen a very youthful beauty as your partner Naruto-kun! However, I still expect you to apologize to Tenten to rekindle her flames of youth!" Lee told him before dashing off. Hana watched him go, a new twitch in her face.

"How did you meet that freak?" she whispered to her boyfriend. He shrugged dismissively.

"I was scoping out the competition on Team Selections Day; they qualified as competition." He explained. "C'mon, I need to make an apology." Naruto grabbed her hand and pulled her off towards Konoha's Merchant District. A few minutes and a bunch of whines from Hana later, the couple had ended up in front of the Tsukiakari Weapons Shop. Naruto hesitantly walked in and looked around. He saw Tsukiakari Naiya sitting behind the front desk, reading some sort of weapons catalogue. She looked up when she heard Naruto and Hana's footsteps.

"Naruto! I've been meaning to talk to you! What did you do to my little angel?" she demanded, placing her hands on her hips.

"Uh, I turned down a date because I didn't want to cheat on Hana-chan here." Naruto replied, jerking his thumb at his older girlfriend. Naiya raised her eyebrows.

"Oh." She said quietly. "That clears things up. But I still want you to go up there and fix my daughter!" she commanded him, dark apocalyptic clouds forming behind her, and her eyes burning a demonic red. A huge shiver ran up Naruto and Hana's spines as they rushed away from the scary mother and up the stairs in the back of the shop.

"She's scary." Hana deadpanned.

"No shit, Sherlock." Naruto replied, earning himself a strange look from Hana.

"Huh? Who's Sherlock?" she asked.

"He's a fictional detective. I'll tell you more later." Naruto replied. They had reached a plain brown door with a sign on it that read 'Tenten's room; enter and die' Naruto and Hana sweatdropped as they read the sign. The couple approached the door and pressed their ears against it. Even though he didn't have the enhanced hearing of an Inuzuka, Naruto could still hear the sobs and wails coming from Tenten. They were so loud, that she didn't hear Naruto open the door and slip into the room. Hana didn't know what to do, so she just stood uncertainly in the doorway.

The room was fairly plain looking. Tenten didn't seem to be a fan of cluttering her room with her possessions. There was a small desk by the tan wall with a few of brushes, one or two ink jars and some scrolls on it. A couple of kunai, shuriken, and other weapons lay discarded on her desk and on her dresser. Naruto noted that there were only three pictures on her dresser. The first was of a tiny child in a diaper holding a wooden kunai. The child had a tuft of hair on her head that was pulled into two itty bitty buns. Naruto assumed that the child was Tenten. The second picture was of Tenten at about nine or ten years of age. She wore clothing similar to her current attire of a Chinese shirt and dark pants. Only the clothes in the picture were composed of a dark red top and white pants. The younger Tenten was holding a small sword.

The last picture was of Team Nine. There was Tenten, smiling awkwardly in the middle. Neji was scowling on the left side of the frame. And on the right and in the back were Lee and Gai giving the 'Nice Guy' pose.

In the centre of the room was a plain bed with blue comforters. Lying on the bed with her face buried in the pillows was Tenten. Her delicate body shook with sobs, making Naruto's heart ache. He slowly walked over to the bed and laid his hand on Tenten's right shoulder. Her sobs and shaking immediately lessened as she looked up at whoever was touching her. Her eyes were bright red and puffy; Naruto assumed that she had been crying for a long time.

"Hey Tenten." Naruto said softly to her as he sat down on the bed. She sniffed again and wiped her wet face.

"I'm sorry about earlier." He whispered to her. Those words broke the dams and Tenten practically flew into Naruto's arms. Naruto was shocked at first. He wrapped his arms around Tenten and stroked her back as she began to cry into his chest. As he softly stroked her back and hair, he quietly cooed words of comfort to her. In the doorway, Hana was touched by the little drama that was unfolding in front of her.

'_This girl is really fond of Naruto. And if he says he's only known her for a little less than a month that means that she must feel very strongly for him. I want Naruto-kun to be happy... but I don't want to give him up. Maybe, just maybe...'_ Hana's train of thought was cut short when Tenten spoke weakly.

"Wh-who is she N-Naruto?" Hana heard Tenten whisper hoarsely. She was still in Naruto's warm arms, but looking over his shoulder at the older girl.

"Oh, she's my girlfriend Inuzuka Hana." Naruto replied nonchalantly. Hana adorned a small, friendly smile as she approached the bed. Tenten, through her tears, managed a small smile as well.

"Nice to meet you." Hana said to the bun-haired girl as she slowly sat down on the bed.

"You too." Tenten whispered in reply. Hana sighed; it was now or never.

"Tenten... can I talk to you for a second? _Privately_ please, Naruto-kun." Hana said as she stared at her boyfriend. Naruto backed off and released Tenten. The younger girl walked out into the hall and leaned closer to the older girl at her beckoning.

"So Tenten," Hana began in an almost conversational whisper. "you really like Naruto-kun, right?" she asked. Tenten nodded slowly.

"You would do anything to be with him?" Hana asked, lowering her vocal volume even further. Curiously narrowing her eyes, Tenten nodded again. Hana looked back to make sure that Naruto wasn't covertly listening. Luckily the blonde was sitting on Tenten's bed, twirling a jeweled cane that was probably his scythe under a Henge. Hana turned back to Tenten and whispered in her ear.

"Would you be willing to share him with me?" she whispered so softly that Tenten almost didn't hear her. Almost.

"N-nanjato?" Tenten sputtered, backing away from Hana and staring at her like she was some sort of humanoid dog.

"You know, 'share him'? Like, date him at the same time and all that stuff?" Hana explained in a way that a mother might to a two-year-old.

"I know what it means!" Tenten snapped back. "What I meant was _why_ would you want to share _your_ man with me?" she hissed. Hana sighed and put her hands on her hips.

"Because... Naruto-kun is a great guy. I haven't been with him for that long, but I know that he knows how to treat a woman right. And even though I don't know you at all, I'm getting vibes from you that tell me that we could end up being the best of friends. Because of that, I'm willing to share my man." Hana said to Tenten. Tenten's eyes were looking a little watery again.

"Thanks Hana, I really appreciate it." She thanked the Inuzuka girl, who gave a friendly grin that showed her elongated canines.

"I'm glad you approve. But first, we need to get to know each other. The only thing that I know about you is that you like weapons a little too much." Hana got a sly grin on her face as she leaned down and whispered into Tenten's ear.

"But that being said, a girl who likes weapons a lot is a real turn-on for me..." Hana left the sentence hanging as she backed away from the now red-faced and sputtering Tenten. Hana giggled as Tenten continued to sputter incomprehensibly. Finally, she got her blush under control and glared at Hana. Hana rolled her eyes as she beckoned Tenten to come back into the room. Both of the girls smiled sultrily as they sat down on either side of Naruto. The blonde flicked his eyes from girl to girl.

"Naruto-kun," Hana began, leaning a little closer. "You enjoy dating me, right?" she asked. Naruto looked at her like she was crazy.

"Of course I do, Hana-chan!" he exclaimed with a goofy smile.

"But you also want to make Tenten happy, right?" she asked, leaning closer still. Their noses were almost touching now.

"Uh, yes I do." Naruto answered with a confused look on his face. His eyes widened when he felt Tenten lean on his other shoulder and whisper into his ear.

"Well then, why don't you let us share you Naruto-kun?" she whispered. Naruto's eyes almost popped out of his head and his jaw almost fell off.

"S-s-share me? Y-you mean that y-you'll both date me at the s-same time?" he stuttered out. He looked into both of their eyes, trying to find some trace of deceit in case this was a cruel joke. A huge smile crossed his face and he fell down on the bed when he found no trace of deceit or trickery.

"Naruto-kun!" they both cried, rushing to Naruto's side.

* * *

Naruto awoke to a warm pressure on his forehead and his cheek. The pressures disappeared suddenly... but returned on his temple and the side of his mouth. The gentle pressures continued to dance all over his face until he opened his eyes. He was met by the affectionate stares of Hana and Tenten. Only then did he realize that they had been raining light kisses all over his face.

"Was that a dream?" he whispered to the two girls. Both of them broke into identical smiles.

"No Naruto-kun, it's for real." Hana answered.

"We're both your girlfriends." Tenten added. Naruto's smile couldn't get any bigger.

'_This is the greatest day of my life.'_ He thought.

* * *

Sarutobi stood in front of the dozen or so Jounin and Chuunin that were standing in his office.

"Well, as you all know, it's that time of year again; the time of the Chuunin Exams. As you all know, there will be multiple ninja from neighbouring countries entering Konoha. In this light, it is my demand that you treat our guests with utmost respect." he received a round of nods. Sarutobi sighed; it was time to drop the bomb.

"But there is a situation that has recently come up. I received a reliable tip-off from one of Konoha's newer Jounin, Hanataba Rin, that there may be a plot between the Kazekage and Orochimaru. If my assumption is correct, they plan to launch an assault upon Konoha." A ripple of murmurs went through the assembled nin. "Therefore, you must all be on high alert. I would suggest that those with students inform them of the Priority-A Alert that Konoha is now on. If you observe any ninja from a neighbouring country acting suspiciously, or suspect a Konoha ninja of being a spy, notify the ANBU or myself immediately." Sarutobi received a round of nods from the assembled ninja. He frowned when some of them grew sadistic/evil smirks on their faces.

"Oh, and all claims of Uzumaki Naruto being an enemy operative will be waived. All nin who make said claims will be subject to cruel and unusual torture." He stated. Self-satisfaction welled up inside him when the smirks vanished from the small group of Chuunins' and Jounins' faces faster than a cake at an Akimichi clan dinner.

"We will have more of that later. Now, those assembled Jounin who have taken a Genin team, please state if you wish to nominate them for the Chuunin Exams." Four notable Jounin stepped forwards.

"I, Hatake Kakashi, nominate my students Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Haruno Sakura for the upcoming Chuunin Exams." He stated in a bored tone.

"I, Yuuhi Kurenai, nominate my team of Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba for the exams." Kurenai stated with a small, but confident smile upon her face.

"I, Sarutobi Asuma, nominate my squad of Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Chouji to participate in the upcoming exams." Asuma proclaimed. Surprisingly, he wasn't smoking at the particular moment.

"YOSH! I, Maito Gai, Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, elect my youthful team of Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee, and Tsukiakari Tenten for the youthful Chuunin Exams!" Gai shouted. Naturally, most of the people in the room covered their ears or groaned at the temporary loss of their hearing.

"Hm? You say something Gai?" Kakashi asked as he pulled out his book.

"CURSE YOU AND YOUR MOST UNYOUTHFUL HIPNESS, KAKASHI!" Gai bellowed as the 'Green Beast Waterworks Inc.' started up. More groans of agony echoed through the room. Sarutobi had been smart enough to put in earplugs just before Gai started to speak. He pulled them out with an audible popping sound and looked out over the groaning crowd.

"Are there any more Jounin who wish to nominate their teams?" he asked a little louder than usual so that the semi-deaf nin assembled could hear him. A handful of Jounin put in their nominations. "Are their any objections?" Sarutobi asked.

"Yes!" came the slightly raised voice of Umino Iruka. "I object to the nominations of Teams Seven, Eight, and Ten! All nine of them are just rookies! None of them will be able to go through these exams and live!" he protested. Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma turned to him.

"It's touching that you're so concerned for the well being of our students Iruka, but they're all our responsibility now." Kurenai said in a placating manner. Instead of calming him down, this comment only riled Iruka even further.

"And that's why I'm concerned! You may be confident in their abilities, but what if you've overestimated them? They could all potentially die! I mean, take Hinata for example; her lack of confidence is a major flaw that could be exploited!" he ranted.

"Actually Iruka-kun, that problem has been solved." Came the sultry voice of Mitarashi Anko as she pressed herself into Iruka's back. "I've been training Hinata to build her confidence. I was actually surprised; she's almost as minx-ish as I am now!" Anko exclaimed proudly. Kurenai raised one of her eyebrows. Iruka looked like he was thinking.

"Well that's all fine and dandy, but what about Ino and Shikamaru? Ino always put Sasuke or her looks before her ninja training!" he pointed out.

"That's been seen to, Iruka. Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji have been worked into the third level of Hell over the past month. Sometimes even I have trouble beating Ino and Shikamaru when they're working together. And I _can't_ beat them when they bring Chouji into the picture." Asuma told the Chuunin. Iruka's face was now screwed up in concentration.

"And Kakashi, what about Sakura? Sure she's smart, but her practical scores were the lowest in the Academy! That's a real problem if she's going to be competing." Iruka pointed out. Kakashi sighed as he closed his book.

"Once again Iruka, your attempts at dissuading us from entering our students fails. Sakura has recently acquired Nidaime-sama's Raijin sword, and has been training under Gekkō Hayate. I also heard something about Uzuki Yugao training her in taijutsu and some ninjutsu as well." Kakashi drawled as he stared Iruka in the eye.

"Sakura also lent a hand in my team's fight against Deidara of Iwagakure. Granted she did little damage, she still did her part." This claim brought murmurs through the room, and one Jounin stated that Kakashi was lying.

"It's true," said a voice from the door. Everyone assembled turned to see Momochi Zabuza leaning casually against the door, arms crossed. "All of Hatake's team played a part in driving Deidara off. Naruto himself severely wounded him and would've killed him if Kusa no Zetsu hadn't interfered." He finished. Many of the shinobi were looking doubtful that Naruto had managed to almost take down an S-rank nukenin.

"Enough! I'm glad that you're concerned for the students' well-being Iruka, but they are not your students anymore. If their senseis wish to nominate them for the exam, then so be it." Sarutobi announced with an air of finality. When there were no more objections, Sarutobi dismissed the assembled ninja. Once he was certain that he was alone, he broke out the sake and crashed onto his new leather recliner, Icha Icha Paradise in his hand.

* * *

It was the next day, and Naruto was walking to the bridge that Kakashi had told Team Seven to go to. He had told them to come there at 7:30 AM, but it was 10:00 when Naruto showed up with his little fox in tow. Sakura immediately turned her wrath on him.

"YOU'RE LATE!" she hollered at him, eyes a bright red and hellish fire burning behind her. Naruto was not intimidated in the least.

"Technically you're wrong there Sakura. I haven't arrived after Kakashi, so therefore I am not late." Naruto reciprocated, shutting Sakura up immediately. He sank down on the bridge and opened a scroll on the Four Guardians of the Earth. Just as he was getting to the part about the Seiryu, Kakashi Shunshin'd onto the bridge. This time, Sakura said nothing. But she did move with incredible speed and kicked Kakashi in the 'nads. Sasuke and Naruto groaned in sympathy as they covered their own family jewels.

"THAT'S for being late! AND YOU'LL GET A WHOLE LOT MORE IF YOU CONTINUE TO BE LATE, CONSEQUENCES BE DAMNED!" Sakura shrieked as she bashed Kakashi on the head with her sheathed sword. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other, both pasty white in the face, and gulped nervously. Kyuubi actually gulped as well. Kakashi rolled around in agony for another moment or two before he stood up slowly.

"Right, I have some good news for you three." Kakashi told the Genin. Three sets of eyebrows rose up.

"You're going to stop being late?"

"You're going to actually teach us something?"

"You're going to make a bonfire out of your Icha Icha books?"

Kakashi looked horrified at the mere _thought_ of burning his Icha Icha books. "No to all three; I've nominated you for the Chuunin Exams." Kakashi explained, holding out three identical forms to his students. "However, these are just nomination forms. It's up to you three whether to actually take the exam." He explained further. Stars were glittering in Naruto's eyes. Sasuke had an actual smile on his face; not his arrogant Uchiha smirk, but a genuine smile. Sakura was in turmoil. Sure she had gotten better in the past couple of weeks, but what if she still wasn't good enough?

"Are you sure that you want to enter us in these exams Kakashi-sensei? I-I've heard people die in them or have to s-stop being shinobi afterwards." Sakura said nervously. Both of her male teammates looked at her with different emotions. Sasuke looked angry. But Naruto's eyes showed a much worse emotion; disappointment.

"And just when I was starting to think that you would actually become something decent. Perhaps Rin was right about you Sakura; the Haruno clan should never have attempted to contribute to the shinobi forces of Konoha." Naruto deadpanned to her. Sakura looked crushed at Naruto's comment.

"Perhaps that blonde chick _will_ manage to win Sasuke if you choose not to enter these exams. But if you do enter, Sasuke may not think that you're as weak and worthless a piece of trash as I think you are." Naruto taunted. And just like a magic charm, Sakura lost it. She charged with speed that she never had before and attempted an iaijutsu on Naruto. The blonde blocked the strike with some difficulty and backflipped away. He stared at Sakura with a confident grin on his face, observing the situation. Sakura was standing in a kenjutsu stance that he had seen one or two samurai in Hell use. Her face was neutral, but Naruto could see the righteous anger in her eyes.

"Good Sakura; you managed to catch me off guard for a moment there. Let's see what you can do with your sword." Naruto said as he charged at her. He was going slower than his top speed, but he was still very fast. He took a swipe at Sakura's midriff, but she deflected it to the side and took a stab at Naruto. Naruto strafed to the side and tried to jab her with the butt of his scythe. Surprisingly, Sakura caught the scythe and used it to flip upwards and bring her heel down on Naruto's head. The blonde crashed into the ground, but was up before anyone knew it. Scowling, Sakura placed Raijin's handle in her mouth and started to fly through seals.

"Shuiton: Shuigadan no jushu!" Sakura managed to say. Two spiraling pillars of water rose out of the river. The ends of them became pointed like drills and they homed in on Naruto.

"Katon Kekkai: Hi no Enjin!" Naruto announced as he blew out a stream of fire. The flamed formed a ring around him and became a towering barrier of fire. The water pillars crashed into the barrier and evaporated on the spot. Naruto stopped the barrier only to see Sakura charging at him.

"Tsubaki no mai!" she stated as she began a flurry of stabs. Naruto was hard pressed to dodge all of them. But one of the stabs managed to get him in the stomach. He gasped as the electricity coursed through his system. Naruto fell onto his back; the electricity had fucked up his nervous system emissions. Sakura stood over him, a Sasuke style smirk on her face.

"Looks like you underestimated me Naruto." She sneered at him. Naruto returned the sneer.

"And it looks like you forgot about my little Jutsu Library of Doom. Ninpō: Geppuhō no jutsu!" Naruto's stomach expanded and he let fly a deafening burp that displaced an expanding wave of air in front of him. Sakura was caught in the wave and was thrown from her feet. She landed on her ass on the other side of the bridge and didn't move for a moment. Kakashi and Sasuke just stared at Naruto with big anime eyes as he got up.

"What? I always wondered why nobody bothered to create a jutsu like that, so I did myself!" Naruto explained sheepishly. It took a few minutes for Sakura to recover from the noxious fumes that went with the jutsu. Once she had, the team went their separate ways but Kakashi held Naruto back.

"You need to come with me Naruto." Was all he said before he Shunshin'd away.

* * *

Kakashi and Naruto reappeared in the richer district of Konoha. Naruto was surprised to see the Sandaime waiting for him in front of a huge patch of earth.

"Ah, good, you're here. Well Naruto, I feel it is time to inherit what is yours." Was all that he said before he turned to the patch of earth and performed some sort of fuuinjutsu. When the Hokage slammed his hands into the ground, the earth patch began to rumble. After a second or two, a large manor began to rise out of the ground. Naruto's jaw dropped when he took in the full size of the manor. If it was possible, his jaw would've dropped even lower when he took in the size of the manors interior.

"My parents owned _this_ place?" Naruto asked, awestruck. "Who were they?" Sarutobi simply beckoned him into a large living room. Above the fireplace, he pointed to a pair of large portraits. The portrait on the right featured a man with spiky blonde hair and eyes that were obscured by a pair of purplish-blue sunglasses. He wore a bright red shirt with a white cravat, matching red pants, and a deep blue jacket with little jewels all over it. On the back of the jacket was a cluster of yellow jewels that read 'Namikaze'. The man was leaning back on a piano bench while playing the piano, and rocking out into a mic.

The other portrait featured a beautiful woman with flaming red hair and blue eyes playing a guitar. She was dressed in a black tank top and a skirt that reached just above her knees. She was also wearing a set of black pumps that shone from an unseen light being shone on her. Her pretty face was covered in a small sheen of sweat as she strummed her guitar.

"These two... flamboyant people are your parents Naruto. The man was my sensei, Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime. The woman is your mother, Uzumaki Kushina, leader of the ANBU. Both were renowned as two of the greatest ninja in the history of Konoha. And as you can see, both had a passion for music. Minato was called the 'Piano Wizard' for his inexplicable ability to create new melodies within a day. But I'm getting off topic. The point is, all of this is yours now Naruto. If you need us, just come and find us." Kakashi informed him, leaving him to explore the house.

Naruto was in a state of shock; his parents were two of the greatest ninjas in the history of Konoha. But even though the house signified that they were quite wealthy, neither of them seemed fond of clutter. As he and Kyuubi explored the house, they found five bedrooms (Not including the master bedroom), four bathrooms complete with tubs/Jacuzzis, two sitting rooms, a large kitchen and dining room that were stocked with food scrolls, and a small library, Naruto grew more and more shocked at how wealthy his parents had been.

But what surprised Naruto the most was when Naruto came to the music room. It was a very large, soundproof room on the second floor of the house with a large window on the right wall. Inside the room was a large black piano with a couple of guitars leaning against it. Behind the piano was a pair of percussion sets equipped with multiple drumsticks. And beside the drum sets was a keyboard.

But it was a photo on top of the piano that caught Naruto's attention. Picking it up, Naruto took it to be a band picture. Lying on top of the piano and striking a pose was his father. Standing beside the piano and leaning on their guitars was his mother and a middle-aged white-haired man with red streaks down his cheeks. Sitting at the keyboard was a younger Kakashi. And at the drums was a beautiful blonde woman with almost ridiculously large assets. As he examined the picture, Naruto noticed a tiny piece of white sticking out of the frame. Curious, he pulled at it, and out came an envelope that read 'Naruto' on the front. Naruto gingerly opened the envelope and read the note inside:

_Naruto,_

_If you are reading this, then Ojiji thinks that you're ready. No doubt by now, you know that I was the Yondaime. In that light, I expect you to surpass me or I'm gonna be pretty pissed when you come to heaven._

_And you've also seen that I was a musical sensation. The photo that I've placed this note in was the little group of ninja that shared my passion for music. The kid with the mask is Hatake Kakashi, my old student. The white haired man is my sensei Jiraiya, and the woman on the drums is Tsunade. Both of them are part of the Densetsu no Sannin. If you ever see either of them, say 'The Piano Wizard sends his regards.' If you are able, I want you to keep my flame from burning out and continue to write and play music. _

_Back to the point. In the seal at the bottom of this page is the instructions for my two signature jutsu, Rasengan and Hiraishin no jutsu. I expect you to use them liberally._

_Your loving father,_

_Namikaze Minato_

Naruto let a happy tear fall from his eye as he opened the seal and began to study the jutsu in the scroll. He also reached into his pocket to grab a small black scroll. From it he summoned a very old book called _The Art of Resurrection..._

* * *

It was the next day and Naruto was strolling casually through Konoha with Tenten and Hana. They had all gone a successful 'first date' to a romantic comedy of the ladies' choosing. When they had asked why he had let them choose, he just said 'I was trying to be a gentleman.'

As they were walking through a secluded part of Konoha, they heard the sounds of a small scuffle going on. Curious, the three almost-lovers hurried to the scene and observed it:

The scene was like this; the Hokage's grandson, Sarutobi Konohamaru, was being held by the scruff of his neck by a boy in pajamas. He wore some sort of hood that made him look like a fat black cat with the symbol of Sunagakure on it. On his back was a large wrapped bundle that smelled like wood, metal, and poison. His face was covered in paint that was arranged in an odd pattern. With him was a girl with sandy blonde hair that was tied back in four spiky pigtails. She wore a pale lavender dress that almost matched the colour of the Byakugan. On her back was a large metal fan. Her dark teal eyes were staring at her partner in disdain.

"Stop it Kankuro, we're gonna get in trouble." She reprimanded Kankuro.

"I don't care; this brat ran into me, and I'm gonna teach him a lesson." Kankuro replied as he drew his fist back. Naruto grimaced as he summoned Jakyo from a scroll he carried.

"Hey! You in the pajamas with the ugly makeup! Put the kid down before I stick my scythe up your ass!" Naruto commanded. The two Suna ninja snapped their necks up to observe the boy with the chibi-fox on his soldier. A vein throbbed on Kankuro's forehead.

"THESE ARE NOT PAJAMAS! AND IT'S FACE PAINT!" Kankuro yelled back.

"Whatever kitty cat. This is the last time I'm gonna say it; Put. The. Kid. Down." Naruto commanded forcefully. Kankuro sneered.

"I'd like to see you, your little girlies and your little fuzzball make me!" he boasted. Naruto snarled

"Well Kanky, if I were you, I'd put Konohamaru down and make yourself scarce for three reasons. One; if you don't, we'll kick your sorry little tushy all the way to Kusa. Two; the Hokage will come down here and fry your ass for harming his grandson. And three; that redhead up in the tree with the gourd of sand looks really pissed at you." Kankuro and the girl froze when Naruto mentioned the third reason.

And true to his assumption, said redhead stepped out from the cover of branches. He wore a black shirt and kabuki pants with a sash, and a gourd strapped onto his back. He had empty, pale green eyes with black rings that were accentuated by his white face. On his forehead was the red kanji for love.

"I appraise your efforts for locating me, and apologize for my brother's stupidity." Here he turned a murderous glare to Kankuro who gulped nervously.

"S-sorry G-Gaara, but he hit me-"

"Shut up, or I _will_ destroy you." Gaara snapped. Hana winced; this kid was dangerous.

"What are you three doing here anyways?" Tenten asked.

"They're probably here for the Chuunin Exams. Otherwise, this place would be swarming with ANBU." Naruto replied as he replaced his scythe on his back and withdrew all of Kyuubi's chakra, making the fox disappear in a tiny flash of light. Gaara stared at Naruto intensely before he vanished in a flare of sand, and reappeared in front of Naruto.

"You interest me," the redheaded psychopath stated, causing Naruto and his girlfriends to raise an eyebrow each. "What is your name?" he added on. Naruto remained silent for a second, contemplating what he should do.

"Uzumaki Naruto." He finally answered. If he had not been looking very carefully, Naruto would have missed the miniscule upturning of Gaara's lips.

"Sabaku no Gaara." Gaara replied as he signaled for his siblings to come forth. "And these two are my siblings Kankuro and Temari." He introduced the two behind him. Naruto raised his eyebrow microscopically when he heard Kyuubi's whisper: This kid was the Ichibi no Tanuki's Jinchuriki. A small smile graced Naruto's face.

"I look forward to facing you in the exams, Brother Gaara." Naruto told the redhead. Gaara's eyes widened a little bit as he deciphered Naruto's message. He began to walk away, his siblings in tow.

"Scary." Tenten murmured. Hana simply nodded her head.

"You were awesome, Naruto-niichan!" Konohamaru cried, latching onto Naruto's leg. Naruto began to shake his leg and shout at Konohamaru to get off. Hana and Tenten just laughed and laughed. Naruto finally managed to get Konohamaru off of him, and shooed him away.

"So ladies," Naruto said as he turned back to his girlfriends. "where were we?"

* * *

It was the next day, and Team Seven had just entered the building that they were supposed to go to if they had chosen to take the Chuunin Exams. They had gone up a flight of stairs, and were confronted by a large queue of Genin who were being pushed back from 'Room 301' by two larger, burlier Genin. Naruto immediately noticed that something didn't add up; they had only gone up one flight of stairs.

"Sasuke, Sakura, we need to go up one more flight of stairs." Naruto whispered to his teammates. By some coincidence, Team Nine heard them.

"So you noticed it too Naruto?" Neji asked quietly. Naruto grinned and shook Neji's extended hand. Sakura and Sasuke were looking at Team Nine suspiciously, but said nothing.

"Yo Lee, you haven't seen Hinata and Team Eight around, have you?" Naruto inquired to the spandex-clad ninja. As if the gods were answering his questions, Naruto felt a pair of arms circle him, and a pair of breasts press into his back.

"Looking for me Naruto-kun?" came a soft, sultry, familiar voice. Naruto turned his beet red face and his jaw dropped:

Hinata was a mini-Anko. She wore the fishnet shirt and leggings, the trench coat, AND the miniskirt. Her hair had grown out, and she was now wearing it in the spiky, peacock-train style that Anko did. She had even mimicked the confident smirk to perfection. Naruto whistled.

"Geez Hinata, you've caught the 'Like-Sensei-Like-Apprentice' disease, only soooo much better." Naruto joked, jerking his thumb at Lee who pouted. Naruto raised his eyebrow when he saw a tiny spot of red on Neji's upper lip. Hinata noticed. She walked up and slapped Neji in the face. Naruto snickered as he turned to the nine Genin assembled. He pressed a finger to his lips and beckoned his friends to follow him. The nine ninja slunk up the stairs and were surprised to see Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai standing there. They explained what would've happened if the less than the whole team had showed up, and beckoned the teams that had seen through the genjutsu to enter the room.

The nine Genin opened the door, and were met by the stares from hundreds of familiar, and foreign nin. Most of Naruto's company flinched under the scrutiny, but Naruto stared at them defiantly.

"What the fuck are you lookin' at?" he snapped, releasing killing intent. Some of them gulped and went back to their business while others matched Naruto's killing intent. Naruto's teammates and friends stood shocked by the tension and murderousness in the air. Naruto knew he was losing the battle of intent, so he began to channel his Karite chakra. The lights flickered and the temperature around them dropped about ten degrees Celsius. The remaining nin who had bee directing their KI at Naruto stopped and went back to their own devices. Naruto turned around as he stopped releasing his Karite chakra to be met with the stares of Teams Seven, Eight, Nine, and the recently arrived Team Ten.

"Sheesh, you squirts sure know how to cause a ruckus." Said an older, unfamiliar nin with silver-grey hair that was tied up in a short ponytail. He wore a purple and white outfit with large circular glasses on his angular face.

"And you are…?" Hinata asked, gazing coolly at the new guy.

"Yakushi Kabuto." Kabuto answered. "How 'bout I give my cute underclassmen some info about this exam?"

"Is this your second try Kabuto-san?" Ino asked with her head cocked to the side.

"No, this is my seventh." Kabuto admitted sheepishly.

'_Weak.'_

'_Sasuke-kun is probably thinking that he's weak. I probably should too, even though he has almost Jounin level chakra reserves.'_

'_These bandages are giving me a wedgie!'_

'_This exam is troublesome.'_

'_MMM! These new 'Soylent-spiced' chips are awesome! I wonder what the secret ingredient is.'_

'_What a weakling. Kurenai-sensei is so hot sometimes I just wanna… DAMMIT! Stop thinking about doing naughty things with sensei!'_

'_This fishnet is making my girls itch. Is anybody watching me…?'_

'_This weakling is making my Kikai Senses tingle.'_

'_This man's flames of youth are weak!'_

'_Naruto-kun would look so hot in just his underwear…'_

'_Hinata-sama is so… so… hot… NO! BAD NEJI! BAD NEJI!'_

'_A spy, eh? I'll tell Ojiisan about it when I see him __next.'_

"So you suck, basically." Naruto asked rhetorically. Kabuto scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Hey, at least I've been able to collect some information on the competition." Kabuto shot back as he pulled a small deck of cards out of his pocket.

"These are my trademarked 'Nin Info Cards'. They have information on pretty much all of our competition this year." Kabuto explained as he placed his trademarked 'Bar Graph of Competing Ninjas' on the floor. Kabuto channeled some chakra into the card, and a map of the Elemental Countries popped up, followed by a holograph on each country with a number.

"This graph shows how many examinees there are, and what country they're from. There are thirty from Suna, twenty-one from Ame, fifteen from Kusa, twelve from Taki, seventy-two from Konoha, three from Kumo, and three from Oto. That totals one hundred and fifty-six examinees, all the best from their respective countries." Kabuto explained.

'_Hmm, this might not be a piece of cake after all.' _Sasuke thought. Of course, he would never say that out loud.

"I also have information on specific ninja, if you're interested." Kabuto offered, making Naruto perk up a little bit.

"Do you have anything on Sabaku no Gaara?" the blonde asked, looking around the room for the redhead.

"Hmm, let me see…" Kabuto murmured to himself as he rummaged through the deck of cards. He placed one on the floor after a moment and pumped some chakra into it. An image of Gaara popped up with some statistics.

"Sabaku no Gaara of Sunagakure. He's a rookie Genin, like yourselves. His teammates are his siblings Kankuro and Temari, but his sensei is unknown, as are all of his techniques. His mission history is eight C-rank missions and a B-rank. But get this; he came back from every single mission without a scratch on him." Kabuto read, shocking all but one of the Genin.

'_Makes sense; Jinchuriki heal fast. Or maybe it __has something to do with that gourd of sand that he carries around. I'll have to find out the next time I see him.'_ Naruto pondered.

"Anyone else?" Kabuto asked, staring up at the dozen Genin.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Sasuke ordered. Naruto looked at Sasuke and raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.

"Very well." Said Kabuto as he rummaged through the deck again. When he laid down the card, a picture and the statistics of Naruto appeared, much like Gaara's card.

"Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha. Also a rookie Genin. Teammates are Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. Sensei is Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi. His mission history is eight D-rank missions, and a C turned A-rank mission. He is able to perform multiple jutsus- usually ranging from B to S-rank- without hand seals. The only other bits of information that I have on him is that he wields a sentient scythe and that he disappeared from Konoha three years ago without a trace, and only recently came back." Kabuto informed the other Genin. Sasuke was staring at Naruto with a mixture of surprise, curiosity and anger on his face. Naruto was looking at Sasuke with a calm smile on his face.

"What, are you terrified of my incredible power or something Sasuke?" Naruto taunted. Ino and Sakura looked upset that Naruto was taunting Sasuke.

"Hn, as if. You could never beat me." Sasuke proclaimed arrogantly. Naruto's smile turned into a nasty grin.

"Oh I beg to differ. I bet you're thinking 'Holy shit! Where the hell did the awesome, hot blonde get his power?! I must find someone to teach me how to defeat him, no matter who they are!' Well just let me tell you this Sasuke: Bad things happen to little boys who take candy from strangers." Naruto said to him. The rest of the rookies frowned at Naruto's cryptic message. But they didn't have time to think on it because of the appearance of a large, burly man with a scarred face in a black trench coat.

"Shut up and listen up punks!" he shouted above the whispers of the room. All noise ceased.

"I'm Morino Ibiki, the first examiner. Follow me and take a seat." He ordered. The examinees followed the scarred man into the next room and chose seats. Naruto tuned out the rules of the written exam. But when Ibiki said that they would only be penalized two points for cheating, Naruto began to suspect that some reading between the lines was necessary.

'_Why the hell would they only penalize two points if you were caught cheating? Normally you'd be disqualified right away… unless__ they want us to cheat… but that must mean… of course! This test is a test of your information gathering skills!'_ Naruto was so rapt up in his thoughts that he didn't notice that the test had begun. Naruto looked at the questions and raised an eyebrow; some of these questions were stuff that Jounin couldn't answer!

Naruto started to twirl Jakyo in its strap. He smirked when the proctors didn't write anything down when he stopped Jakyo when it was sitting straight up.

'_Okay Jakyo, do your stuff!'_ Naruto mentally commanded.

'_Yes, master.'_ was the scythe's reply. Naruto wrote down the answers over the next twenty minutes, and scribbled a footnote addressed to Ibiki. He couldn't answer the tenth question though. It would be given after forty-five minutes had passed, so Naruto sat back in his chair and tried to snooze. The constant sound of proctors shouting out to failed examinees and the sound of pencils scratching prevented him from doing so.

"Time's up!" Ibiki called after another twenty or so minutes. He began to rant about whether or not to take the tenth question, and if you chose not to take it, you were barred from taking the exam ever again. Slowly, dozens of people raised their hands and filed out of the room. Ibiki watched them go emotionlessly. His eyes drifted across the room, but they came to rest on a grinning Naruto. Tokubetsu Jounin and Genin stared each other down for a moment before Naruto did something rather unexpected:

He yawned,

And he made a big show of it too. He stretched one arm and covered his mouth with the other, making a rather loud yawning noise. Ibiki scowled.

"You seem pretty confident." The bandana-wearing Jounin remarked.

"You bore me, Scarface." Naruto taunted. Ibiki began to exude a sizable amount of Ki. Naruto flashed Ibiki a vision of the Ghost Rider reclining in his seat, burning Hell in the background. Ibiki jumped, his eyes widened in slight shock.

"Is that everyone who wishes to quit?" he asked. Naruto's insult had lifted the tension from the room. Ibiki sighed. "Very well then, everyone in this room… passes." Naruto tuned out the shouts of indignation and Ibiki's explanation of how not being stealthy in completing missions could get you killed. His attention was only brought crashing back to earth when fog began to fill the room. Naruto remained calm while everyone else began to panic. The fog cleared, and in front of the room stood Zabuza, glowering over the remaining Genin.

"And I was told you were a professional Ibiki-san; you let twenty-six teams pass this test?" Zabuza asked, turning his bandaged face to the scarred one of Ibiki.

"Perhaps we just have a bunch of exceptional ones this year." Ibiki answered in a dismissive manner. Zabuza made a sound not unlike that of a horse.

"Whatever. They'll be cut in half at _least_by the end of the second exam." Zabuza said in a threatening manner as he informed them of the second exam's details before dismissing them.

"Hell of an exam, eh?" Naruto asked his friends as they filed out of the room.

"Yeah. Nice speech at the end there Naruto-kun." Tenten said as she latched onto his arm.

* * *

Ibiki was collecting papers when he came upon Naruto's. He picked it up and read the footnote at the bottom.

_Dear Ibiki_ ('_Ugh, I'm really starting to hate this kid'_)

_I suspect Yakushi Kabuto is a spy for either Suna or Oto to determine who is a threat for the war to come. I suggest that you either get him arrested or __he be placed under 24 hour surveillance._

_Uzumaki Naruto_

Now Ibiki's suspicions of the weird failure were backed by someone else. He immediately Shunshin'd off to report to the Sandaime.

* * *

Naruto and company stood in front of the Shi no Mori the next day. Naruto listened half-heartedly to Zabuza explaining the exam. When the time had come and the waivers had been signed, Naruto went behind the tent to receive an Earth Scroll. He quickly sealed it inside a scroll full of essentials for their survival, which he sealed inside another scroll just to be safe. As team Seven stood in front of Gate 20, Naruto formulated a plan.

"Okay you two listen up. My plan is to try and hook up with a team that we know is friendly so that we won't be overpowered if we encounter resistance." Naruto told them.

"And why should we listen to you Naruto? Sasuke-kun probably has a much better idea!" Sakura reprimanded him. Sasuke didn't say anything; the gate had just opened. After about ten minutes of darting through the forest, Naruto called for a halt in the small clearing.

"Why did we stop?" Sasuke asked, irritated. Naruto answered by creating ten K.B.s and telling them to scout the forest. He summoned Kyuubi and expanded it to the size of a small wolf. Ordering the fox to keep watch, Naruto sat down and waited for his K.B.s to give him some knowledge. There was a ten minute wait before a rush of info came to Naruto.

"There's a Taki team with a Heaven Scroll about a kilometre west of here." He said to Sasuke and Sakura.

"How do you know that?" Sakura asked.

"I'll explain on the way." Naruto told her as he jumped into the trees, team and fox in tow. After about ten minutes, they came upon the Takigakure team. They were sitting in the middle of the clearing. Naruto suspected that they had some sort of trap set. He grinned.

"This'll be too easy. Ninpō: Taiatari Bunshin no jutsu!" A Bunshin appeared in midair, limbs clasped firmly to its sides. Naruto pointed to a spot a few metres away from the Taki ninja, and the Bunshin flew at that spot with incredible speed. None of the Taki nin noticed the speeding bomb until it had blown up. The ninja were thrown from their feet, and couldn't react in time to stop Naruto's K.B.s from pounding them in the heads.

"Like I said; too easy." Naruto boasted as a new K.B. picked up the scroll without any trouble. No sooner had he caught the scroll than a giant snake just burst out of the brush and ate him whole. Sakura screamed in terror and almost dropped Raijin. Sasuke's eyes were looking, not at the snake, but at its rider.

He was deathly pale, and had bright yellow, slitted eyes. He wore a beige outfit similar to Sakura's with black pants, a purple rope around his waist, and a long sleeve shirt underneath. His ling black hair was parted, allowing them to see the smirk on his face.

"Kukukukuku, I found you at last Sasuke-kun." He said in a raspy voice as he jumped down from the snake. Both Sakura and Sasuke charged in for a fight against the snake man. They did an admirable job, but the creep still overpowered them.

"I commemorate you two on your fighting skills, but now-" he was cut off by a particularly large explosion behind him. He turned to see the head of his snake falling towards him. He jumped out of the way, but was met with a chain around his neck. It pulled and a fist adorned with brass knuckles met his face. As the chain released, the creep flipped away and got a look at the now slime covered Naruto.

"Well, I can't say it's nice to finally meet you… Orochimaru." Naruto snarled ferally, cracking the large battle chain. Orochimaru smirked, licking his lips with his freakishly long tongue.

"It seems you will be more trouble than I thought Naruto-kun. Meh, I guess I gotta do what I gotta do." Orochimaru said dismissively with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Whatever Oro-chan. And drop the '-kun' suffix; I'm not into men or little boys the same way you are, thank you very much." Naruto taunted, and grinned when Orochimaru let off a wave of Ki.

"Kuchiyose: Kusanagi no Tsurugi: Kū no Tachi!" Orochimaru announced. A snake came out of his mouth and spat out the Kusanagi. Orochimaru held it by his side and charged at Naruto. Naruto swung Jakyo, and the scythe created a crescent of senbon needles. Orochimaru smacked them aside and started to viciously attack Naruto. If the blonde had not cancelled his weights, he would've been dead by now. As Orochimaru took a thrust at him, Naruto jumped up and landed on the blade of the extended sword. Naruto quickly snapped off a kick to Orochimaru's face. It was still powerful, despite it being rushed. The snake Sannin was thrown off balance for a moment, giving Naruto the opening he needed to punch the creepy pedophile in the face. Orochimaru grunted as he felt the brass knuckles break off one or two of his teeth before he was kicked in the stomach. Naruto slung his battle chain at the snake man, and it sent him straight into a tree.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan!" Naruto shouted as he blew out the blast of white hot flames. The blast enveloped the snake Sannin, and Naruto was pretty sure that he heard a cry of pain over the roar of the flames. Wanting to be meticulous, Naruto pumped some more chakra into the jutsu. The flames began to burn more intensely, setting more trees on fire.

Sasuke was unsure of why Naruto was putting more chakra into the jutsu. But suddenly it hit him; Naruto was trying to signal someone. Sasuke started to flare his chakra.

"Sasuke-kun! What are you doing?!" Sakura shouted at him, looking worried.

"Start flaring your chakra Sakura; we need help!" Sasuke told her. Sakura nodded and began to flare her chakra.

* * *

"Hey, do you feel that?" Zabuza asked suddenly, standing up and looking out towards the forest. Kakashi noticed it as well, and a concerned look came into his eye.

"It feels like a chakra signal." Kakashi stated. The other Jounin were looking wary as well.

"Do you think that we should send some help?" Asuma asked, putting out his smoke. "It could be a serious problem."

"Normally I'd ignore it if it was coming from the forest, but we're on a Priority-A alert." Kurenai murmured more to herself. "We can't take any chances." And with that, she was off. Zabuza, Kakashi, Asuma, Gai, and Anko followed.

'_That chakra signature… it couldn't be _him_ could it?'_

* * *

Naruto finally stopped the jutsu and waited tensely for the smoke to clear.

"Barbecued snake, anyone?" came a quiet voice from below. Naruto looked down and saw Team Nine. A vein appeared on his forehead.

"HOW FUCKING LONG HAVE YOU BEEN STANDING THERE?!" Naruto screamed at them. BIG sweatdrop.

"NARUTO-KUN, LOOK OUT!" Tenten screamed. Naruto moved his head just fast enough so that the fist just hit his cheek, sending him for a literal loop. Naruto smashed into a branch, but righted himself and stuck to it. Orochimaru's clothing was burned and singed, as was his hair. His skin looked a little crispy.

"Nice jutsu there Naruto. Just not nice enough. Sen'eijashu!" Orochimaru cried, six snakes flying from his sleeve. Naruto twisted himself out of the way and beheaded the snakes with a swipe from his scythe. He began to swing the scythe wildly, firing off multiple elemental attacks such as fireballs, earth bullets, lightning bolts, water jets, wind blades, the works. Orochimaru dodged these attacks with some difficulty, wondering why the blonde was firing them off in such a random pattern. But then it hit him harder than one of Tsunade's punches; Naruto was trying to signal for help. His moment of thought earned him a punch from Lee. He flew forward, but disappeared; a K.B. Lee looked around for a second and was met with the Sannin's boot.

"Send for help you three! Start flaring your chakra!" Naruto shouted.

'_Kuso, Jakyo__ is outta juice! I'm on my own now.' _Naruto thought.

"Ninpō: Geppuhō no jutsu!" Naruto announced, letting fly a huge belch. This wave screamed at Orochimaru. The snake dodged him, and countered with a Futōn: Daitoppa. Naruto slammed into a tree and shook it off with some difficulty. He was starting to get desperate; he wouldn't last much longer.

'_I have no choice. I might as well go out with some drama__.'_ Naruto thought as he formed the seals for a demon Suiton jutsu.

"Akuma Suiton: Mizu no Kōkyōkyoku!" Naruto called. And true to the name, a chorus of instruments was heard as he water began to form out of midair. Naruto began to direct the attacks at Orochimaru, a haunting song playing with them. Cymbals crashed as water slammed into objects, violins played as streams darted through the air. Trumpets cried, tympanis thundered, bassoons crooned, and flutes whispered as Naruto continued his onslaught.

Orochimaru was battered about every now and then as the song continued. But as it went on, the tempo slowed. Orochimaru glared at Naruto, and the reason came to him; Naruto's chakra was wearing down. This was his chance!

The snake Sannin made a mad dash for it. Naruto tried to stop him, but fatigue was gripping him, and he was shot on chakra. Orochimaru smirked as he prepared a jutsu; it would take a lot of his chakra, but he had to do it if his plan was to be a success.

"Gogyō Fūin!" Orochimaru hissed as he slammed his hand into Naruto's stomach. The blonde gasped as he was sent flying. Naruto landed on a branch on his hands and knees. He looked like he was about to collapse, but he steadied himself and his body began to smoke. Naruto lifted his head up and glared at the Sannin. Orochimaru was startled; Naruto's face had fallen away to reveal a flaming skull with glowing red eyes. The skeleton-faced boy managed to flip Orochimaru the bird before he collapsed.

"Kukukukuku, you put up a good fight Naruto." Orochimaru hissed before he jumped down to the remaining Genin. They tried to attack him, but he just swatted them away, cutting the pink-haired girl's hair in the process. He extended his neck and bit Sasuke's before receding.

"You will seek me out for power Sasuke-kun. Ta ta." Orochimaru gave a coy little wave before sinking into the ground.

* * *

The two days were Hell. Sakura and Team Nine had to put up with toting Sasuke's and Naruto's unconscious asses around for two days before Naruto woke up.

"Are you okay Naruto-kun?!" Tenten demanded frantically, raining little kisses all over Naruto's face.

"Yeah, I'm fine Tenten-chan. I just need a little help." Naruto said to the group.

"What do you need help with Naruto?" Neji asked.

"Can you take a look at my chakra system Neji?" Naruto asked. Neji nodded and turned on his Byakugan.

"There's some sort of seal on you that's making your chakra flow erratically, thereby decreasing your control." Neji gave his analysis. Naruto looked off into space for a moment.

"I think I have an idea. Sakura, memorize these seals." Naruto ran through them slowly a couple of times so his teammate could memorize them.

"Good. Now everyone else, start pumping your chakra into Sakura. Sakura, when I say so, ram your fingers into my stomach and release the chakra into me." Naruto instructed. Neji, Tenten, and Lee started to pump their chakra into Sakura. The pink-haired girl started to glow with chakra, and her face contorted in pain; her chakra coils were not used to all of this chakra.

"NOW!" Naruto commanded. Crying in pain, Sakura rammed her hand into Naruto's exposed stomach, releasing the chakra. Naruto was blown back a couple of feet and lay still for a second before he took a deep breath.

"I feel so much better now. I don't feel all woozy anymore." Naruto remarked.

"Well ain't that nice?" came a sarcastic voice from the clearing. The five conscious ninja turned to see the team from Oto standing there. The girl smirked.

"If you four get out of the way and let us kill Sasuke-kun, we'll think about letting you live." She proclaimed. Sakura looked about ready to scream at them, but Neji silenced her.

"Don't worry about it Sakura; I need to test a new move anyways." He whispered as he drew Hyakurai from its sheath on his back.

"Oh? Is the pale-eyed freak gonna try and get us?" the Oto nin in the helmet taunted. Neji just smirked.

"You, my friend, just sealed your fate." Neji whispered as he tossed Hyakurai up into the air and began to fly through hand seals

"Hyuuga Neji Higi no Meiun: Hyakken no Mai!" Neji announced. Hyakurai began to float in the air, and multiplied by two, then four, then eight. Very soon, there were a hundred blades circling the terrified Oto ninja. Neji just smirked with an evil cackle.

"Shi-ne!" Neji shouted. The blades began to spin and converged on the Oto ninja. Screams were heard as the ninja were mutilated and chopped into mince meat. Neji released the monkey seal a moment later, and all but the original blade disappeared. Neji turned to his company, panting slightly; that jutsu took a lot of chakra. He searched the Oto ninja, and found what he needed; a Heaven Scroll. He turned back to his company, all of whom were staring at him expectantly.

"I just came up with that jutsu recently." Neji explained. He was about to explain further, but a distinctly evil aura began to emanate from Sasuke. The Uchiha stood up, enveloped by dark purple chakra. Black flame-like markings covered the left side of him, funneling out from that strange seal that Orochimaru had put on him. He looked at himself and began to laugh sinisterly.

"This power… it's exactly what I need!" he exclaimed. He looked out at Neji, his scroll, and the cut up Oto ninja.

"That scroll! Give it to me!" Sasuke commanded, charging at Neji with the full intent of killing him. But Neji wasn't called a prodigy for nothing.

"Hakkeshō Raiton: Raijin no Kaiten!" Neji began to spin, and the blue sphere of lightning-natured chakra appeared. A large bolt shot out and zapped Sasuke, knocking him unconscious. Neji 'tsked' as he dragged Sasuke's now normal body back to the group.

"I think we should get out of this forest before any more weird shit happens to us." Lee stated, shocking everyone; Lee never swore.

"What's with the new vulgarity Lee-san?" Sakura asked. Tenten and Neji looked expectant for an answer as well.

"I felt some un-youthfulness was appropriate for this situation." Lee answered, getting up and stretching himself.

* * *

An hour later, they ended up at the tower with two days to spare. They opened their scrolls when they had seen the poem on the wall, and both Kakashi and Gai had appeared.

"Hey look, it's Beavis and Butthead." Naruto joked. Three of the other five Genin laughed. Lee was looking pissed that Naruto had insulted Gai, and Sasuke simply let his lips curl upwards. After recovering from the insult, Kakashi and Gai explained what the scrolls and the poem on the wall signified. Naruto just tuned them out until they were dismissed.

It was the next day and seven teams were lined up in front of the Hokage and a large amount of Jounin. There was the Konoha Twelve, Gaara's team, Kabuto's team, and a team from Kumo. He wasn't sure if it was a figment of his imagination, but the blonde kunoichi with the slanted cat-like eyes on the Kumo team was emanating a familiar aura. He was pretty sure that he saw Gaara shift his gaze to the older girl once or twice as well.

It was then that a sickly looking man appeared and explained that they would need some preliminary matches to narrow down the competition. Before they could continue, he asked if anybody wished to withdraw. Kabuto did. The man coughed, and a panel opened on the wall. It began to randomly cycle through names until it stopped on a pair:

**Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino

* * *

**

**And I'm FINALLY DONE! 45 pages! Holy shit!**

**Translations, Jutsu translations and Ranking dossier:**

**Kuchiyose no jutsu**- Summoning Technique **C-S Rank**

**Kyuu Ryuukyodai**- Nine Dragon Brothers

**Kyuu Ryuukyodai Waza: Shinigami no Ibuki**- Nine Dragon Brothers Technique: Breath of the Death God **No Rank**

**Katon: Daikafushicho Hogek****i**- Fire Release: Great Fire Phoenix Bomb **A-rank**

**Nendo Bunshin**- Clay Replication **No Rank**

**Shi-ne**- Die

**Katon: ****Hōsenka**** no jutsu**- Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique **C-rank**

**Suiton: Tepp****ō****dama Renda**- Water Release: Gunshot Barrage **C-rank**

**Sakura Fubuki no jutsu**- Cherry Blossom Blizzard Technique **C-rank**

**Haikiry****ō no jutsu**- Displacement Technique **B-S Rank**

**Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishō**- Secret Technique: A Thousand Water Needles of Death **No Rank**

**Katon: Karyuu Endan**- Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Missile **B-Rank**

**Ballo de la Sette Peccati Mortali**- Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins **No Rank**

**Uzzolo, Invidia, ****Rapacità, **A**vidità, Pigrizia, Fierezza****, Furia**- Lust, Envy, Ravenousness (Couldn't find Gluttony, so I went for the next best thing), Greed, Sloth, Pride, Wrath (Hope I got these right)

**Chidori**- One Thousand Birds **A-rank**

**Su****iton: Suishōha**- Water Release: Water Shockwave **B-rank**

**Doton: Retsudotenshō**- Earth Release: Split Earth Turn Around Palm **C-rank**

**Doton Kekkai: Dorōdōmu**- Earth Release Barrier: Dungeon Chamber of Nothingness **B-rank**

**Doton: Madojuu no Yoroi**- Earth Release: Armour of the Demonic Earth Beast **No Rank**

**Hakkeshō Raiton: Raijin no Kaiten**- Eight Trigrams Palm Lightning Release: Heavenly Whirl of the Thunder God **No Rank**

**Raiton: Rairyuudan no jutsu**- Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Missile Technique **B-rank**

**Hyakurai**- A Hundred Thunderclaps

**Shuiton: Shuigadan no jushu (Suiton: Suigadan no jutsu)**- Water Release: Water Fang Bullet Technique **B-rank**

**Katon Kekkai: Hi no Enjin**- Fire Release Barrier: Ring of Fire **B-rank**

**Tsubaki no mai**- Dance of the Camellia **No Rank**

**Ninp****ō: Geppuhō no jutsu**- Ninja Art: Belch Cannon Technique (lol) **C-rank**

**Kuchiyose: Kusanagi no Tsurugi: ****Kū**** no Tachi**- Summoning: The Grass Cutter: Longsword of the Heavens **B-rank**

**Sen'eijashu**- Hidden Shadow Snake Hand **C-rank**

**Futōn: Daitoppa**- Wind Release: Great Breakthrough **C-rank**

**Akuma Suiton: Mizu no Kōkyōkyoku**- Demonic Water Release: Symphony of Water **S+ Rank**

**Gogyō Fūin**- Five Element Seal **A-rank**

**Hyuuga Neji Higi no Meiun: Hyakken no Mai**- Hyuuga Neji's Secret Technique of Doom: Dance of a Hundred Blades **A-rank**


	8. The Rules of Engagement

**The Reaper's Art**

**By: Dirty Reid**

**Partner in crime: Uncle Joe**

**Chapter Eight: The Rules of Engagement**

* * *

**Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino**

The screen flashed the names of the two long time rivals. The blonde and pink-haired girls looked at each other, silently vowing to emerge from their match as the victor.

"Would all of those who are not competing in this round please go to the balcony until your name is called?" Hayate asked, pointing at the balcony on the south end of the arena. Naruto hefted Jakyo and began his casual walk up to the balcony, holding Tenten's hand as he walked. Gaara's eyes were on Naruto, but they would drift over to the blonde Kumo kunoichi every now and then. Said kunoichi was either oblivious to being watched, or knew but paid it no heed. Naruto had to admit that he was curious too. But now was not the proper time to discover the source of Gaara's interest in the older Genin. Right now was the time to be amused by a bitch fight.

"Why don't you just give up Forehead?" Ino taunted. Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"And miss slicing your dreams of winning Sasuke-kun's affection into bacon strips? Not a chance." Sakura replied, sliding into a defensive stance. Even though she had improved, Naruto still saw one or two small flaws in the stance. His tiny spark of anxiety for his teammate was put out when he saw several flaws in Ino's stance as well. The only difference between the two was that Ino had more jutsus, and Sakura had Raijin.

"Just to be fair to you Ino, I won't draw my sword unless I'm about to die." Sakura declared, patting Raijin fondly. Ino simply glared at her.

"Are both (cough) combatants ready?" Hayate asked, getting a nod from both girls. "Hajime!" he stated before jumping back. Sakura started off the round by rushing forwards, creating two simple Bunshins. Ino looked rather bored, but stepped up her game when Sakura's speed increased dramatically.

"Futon: Kaze Tobidogu!" Ino announced after a short list of seals. Blowing out hard, three small wind kunai screamed through the air. The Sakura in the middle and on the left dissipated, but the right one jumped out of the way and continued forwards. Sakura threw a punch at Ino, who blocked it and countered with a backhand strike. Sakura ducked the strike and tried to uppercut Ino. The blonde strafed to the side, and headbutted Sakura. The pink-haired girl stumbled backwards, rubbing the spot on her forehead. When she was done, she glared at Ino.

"Katon: Endan!" Sakura cried, shooting several small fireballs out of her mouth like a pistol. Ino moved gracefully to dodge the fireballs, only lightly getting singed by the final one. Just as she landed, Sakura launched a final fireball at Ino's feet, momentarily blinding the blonde. As Ino's vision cleared, she was greeted with the sight of Sakura's fist meeting her face. Naruto was rather surprised that Ino hadn't taken off her weights yet.

'_She's probably leaving them on to prove her strength or something like that._ _I'll never understand girls for as long as I live.'_ Naruto thought resignedly with a roll of his eyes. Down on the floor, the girls were slugging it out. Ino was dodging Sakura's strikes with only a small amount of difficulty. Sakura was not faring so well. Naruto knew that giving her a sword was not the best idea in the world, as it was now her main form of attack and defense. By not teaching her taijutsu, Sakura began to rely on the Raijin sword a little too much as her mode of defense and attack, as some sword wielders tend to do.

'_Dammit!'_ Sakura raged inwardly as Ino pummeled her. _'It's no good, I have to bring it out.'_ Sakura stepped back from one of Ino's blows and drew the Raijin sword in a wide swing. Ino was hit by the backlash and froze up for a second as the electricity played havoc with her nerves. Her little moment of stiffness allowed Sakura to kick her backwards. As Ino fell down, she got a good look at the sword that Sakura was holding.

"Th-that's-!" Ino gasped.

"Nidaime-sama's Raijin sword." Sakura confirmed, rolling the crackling blade. Every other ninja except Team Seven, the Hokage, Hayate and Zabuza made exclamations of surprise. Ino recovered quickly and grinned back.

"Don't think that I don't have a couple of tricks up my skirt Sakura." Ino retorted, making several people sweatdrop, and several perverts giggle as they imagined Ino lifting up her skirt to pull something out of it. Imagine their surprise when Ino 'unfastened' part of her legs to reveal that they were actually metal weights that were covered in a thin layer of padding that looked like skin. Ino let them fall to the side, resulting in a very loud _BANG!_ Sakura gulped in nervousness as she gripped her sword tighter.

"See ya," Ino said before she took off in a purple blur. Sakura barely managed to swipe at her rival in time to stop her from delivering a blow that would've broken her nose. The dance of tantalizing contact went on for another couple of minutes. The match ended in a draw when Ino managed to punch Sakura in the jaw, and Sakura sent a large jolt of electricity into Ino's chest. To his astonishment, Naruto came to the fact that Sakura may actually become a quarter decent kunoichi if she tried _really_ hard.

**Nara Shikamaru vs. Genbu Kame**

Shikamaru muttered a 'troublesome' as he meandered down to the arena. Naruto calmly observed the Kumo nin that Shikamaru was fighting. He was none too tall, but was rather thickset. His head was devoid of any hair, except for a small strand that was tied in a ponytail on the rear of his head, much like a samurai's hair. His upper lip looked rather pointed and was accented by his sizable overbite. Naruto noted that Kame looked rather like a tortoise. Kame wore a black body suit, and had a dark green shield that looked suspiciously like a turtle's shell over his back.

"Are you ready (cough)?" Hayate asked. Kame nodded silently, and Shikamaru just barely inclined his head. "Hajime!"

"Raiton: Rensarai!" Kame shouted immediately, throwing a punch. A thin chain of lightning shot from his fist and screamed at Shikamaru. The Nara leaped out of the lightning chain's way, but was horrified when it started to follow him around. Kame smirked evilly.

"Dance varmint, dance!" Kame commanded with a laugh as he watched Shikamaru dart around to avoid his lightning, all the while, never noticing Shikamaru's shadow creeping slowly towards him. He only noticed when he found his body would not follow his commands. Shikamaru smirked when the Rensarai ceased to trail him and hit a wall.

"So, you have to be able to move in order to control that technique." Shikamaru concluded. Kame gritted his teeth. "Well don't expect to be moving while I'm in control." Shikamaru took out a kunai, making Kame do the same. As the Nara raised the kunai to throw it, his mouth opened a fraction as Kame began to slowly move again.

'_He's resisting the Kagemane by brute force?'_ Shikamaru thought in amazement; nobody had ever done that before. Kame grinned when his shadow was disconnected from his opponent's.

"You're gonna have to do better that that if you wanna win!" Kame declared, dropping the kunai and grabbing the shell-shaped shield from his back. Lunging forwards, the tortoise-like boy flung the shield at Shikamaru. The Nara gulped when he saw the razor sharp blade that surrounded the edge of the shield. He managed to bend backwards and avoid the shield just before it would have sliced his head off. He then noticed a silvery chain that was attached to the shield, making it swing about and return to Kame's waiting grasp. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes; this could prove to be quite difficult.

"Hmm, that's interesting." Tenten murmured as she watched Kame use his shell-like weapon.

"A weapon that doubles as a shield, and a chain blade in the hands of a brute. This could be harder for Shika than I thought." Naruto added. Tenten looked at Naruto curiously.

"How so?" Tenten asked.

"In short, a large amount of brawn can be just as effective as a large amount of brains." Naruto explained. Tenten nodded minutely. A short distance away, the two Cloud kunoichi spoke quietly.

"That guy's got no chance now." said the shorter, black haired kunoichi. She had a pale face, very long lashes with icy blue eyeliner, and her black hair shone an iridescent blue. She wore a black tank top and a navy blue skirt, both of which were iridescent. In her hair was a pair of hair pins made of crystal that flared out at the top. At first appearance, one would assume that this kunoichi was inspired by the beauty of the peacock.

"Aa." replied the minutely taller, blonde kunoichi. She simply wore a black tank top and pants. Around her arms were thick black whips that could be charged with lightning chakra in order to zap trapped opponents. They were supposed to go over the sleeves of her top, but unfortunately for her, she had brought the wrong tank top...

The smaller one.

What did this mean? It meant that the top was stretched tightly over her sizable chest, earning her dozens and dozens of leers and glances from guys, and even a few from girls. But those were mostly from jealousy. Her face was thin and well chiseled, almost fit for a goddess. Her blue eyes were slanted, almost like those of a cat. Her blonde hair was not only sleek, but fluffy to the touch as well. If one were to associate this girl with an animal, everyone would think the same thing: she looked like a cat.

Despite him being a distance away, Naruto could hear the two kunoichi speaking amongst themselves.

"How much longer do you think that the kid will last Yugito?" asked the shorter kunoichi to the girl who was identified as Yugito. "I bet three minutes tops and 500 ryou." she added.

"Give him a little credit Kujaku; double or nothing and five minutes." Yugito replied.

"Deal," Kujaku finalized, shaking Yugito's clawed hand. Naruto snickered. Unfortunately, Yugito heard him. She whipped her head around and narrowed her slitted eyes.

"What's so funny blondie?" she snapped. Inwardly, she was kicking herself for sounding so snappish to such a... handsome young man.

'_HOLD THE PHONE! Where did that come from?!' _she screamed mentally.

"**Well, he **_**is**_** rather handsome, kitten." **boomed the feminine voice of Yugito's inner demon; the Nibi no Nekotama, the two tailed magic cat.

'_Oh, don't you turn on me too!'_ Yugito groaned back. Nibi chuckled.

"**Well why not think that? I mean, look at him! Oh, those rippling muscles, that chiseled face, those darling whisker marks, what's not to like? And from that look from everything on the outside, can you imagine what juicy surprises that he's hiding underneath-"**

'_OOOKAY, that's enough you fuzz ball! The last thing I need is your perverted fantasies parading around in my head, thank you very much!'_ Yugito cut the Nibi off before blood started to dribble out of her nose onto her already lightly crimson face. Nibi huffed.

"**Fine, be that way, you little ice cube. But remember this: What will you do when all the good men have gone?" **Nibi asked, playing on Yugito's personality. And true to the giant cat demon's words, Yugito was known as 'The Human Ice Cube' back in Kumogakure. Many brave, honourable, rich, handsome men had been rejected by the cat-like beauty. Not once had she considered entering a relationship with anybody. This sorely pissed Nibi off. But now, the shamanistic feline could tell that her prison was starting to feel something from this boy. And she intended to exploit that.

"**Get his name, at the very least." **Nibi suggested. Yugito agreed disinterestedly and turned back to the puzzled-looking, younger blonde.

"Hey, did you hear me?" the younger blonde asked. Yugito noted that he looked about three or four years younger than her **(I don't know Yugito's age, and I don't care. Don't like it? Tough!)**.

"No, sorry. What did you say again?" Yugito asked in a semi-polite tone of voice.

"I asked why you think that Shikamaru's gonna lose to turtle-boy down there." Naruto repeated, pointing to Shikamaru, who was now jumping around like a frog to dodge Kame's swinging shell blade. Naruto also noted that it was crackling with purplish electricity, if the glowing arcs were any indication.

"It's simple," Kujaku began, looking at Naruto and Tenten, who was latched onto her boyfriend's arm. "Kame has never lost a fight whenever he brings out his Kame Tate. He comes close, but never loses." she looked down just in time to see Shikamaru get hit by a wave of electricity. Naruto's face was neutral.

"True, he looks much more fearsome now," Naruto began, "but can brawn triumph over an IQ of 200?" Naruto asked casually, making Yugito and Kujaku whip their heads around to gawp at him.

"What?!" Kujaku exclaimed, looking disbelieving.

"You heard me." Naruto answered, turning casually back to the match. Kujaku and Yugito looked a little uncertain for Kame's safety.

The match dragged on for several minutes. But in the end, covered in bruises, cuts, and slathered in blood, Shikamaru managed to catch Kame by using the shadow created by the chain on the Kame Tate. Not expecting it, and being positioned near a wall, Shikamaru managed to make Kame bend backwards and smack his head on the wall, effectively knocking him out. Naruto slid Shika some skin as he walked back, clutching a nastier cut in his side. Yugito and Kujaku were looking dumbfounded; Kame had just been beaten!

"Don't look so surprised you two," Naruto began, "your teammate did a lot better than a lot of people would have done." he reassured them. Yugito looked over at him slowly, contemplating taking Nibi's advice.

"... Say, what's your name?" Yugito asked slowly. Naruto's eyes widened minutely as he contemplated his decision. Using his father's name probably wasn't the best idea, so he used his fake one.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto answered, extending his hand. He wasn't sure, but Naruto could've sworn he saw Yugito flick the tip of her tongue over her lips.

"Nii Yugito." she replied, taking his hand. She forcibly withdrew it after Naruto kissed it gently. Behind Yugito, Zabuza, who had come to watch the matches, chuckled quietly and winked at his 'rival'.

**Tsurugi Misumi vs. Rock Lee**

"Yosh! The time to bask in the almighty glory of youthful victory is here!" Lee declared as he thundered down the stairs. The older boy called Misumi followed him sedately. As soon as Hayate said hajime, Misumi darted forwards. Lee began to evade, but something unexpected happened; Misumi defied all laws of physics and human anatomy by stretching his limbs like rubber and trying to grab Lee. When he landed, Lee's eyes were wider than they normally were.

"Impressive, isn't it? It's called Nan no Kaizō, and it allows me to dislocate my skeletal structure and augment my body by using my chakra." Misumi sneered. Lee just looked thoughtful as he pulled out a scroll.

"Well, two people can be flexible!" Lee said before there was a blast of smoke that enshrouded Lee's form. After a couple of seconds, a sheet of ice spread rapidly from the centre point of the smoke cloud. Naruto smirked; Lee was gonna use 'it'.

"What the hell just happened?" Ino exclaimed.

"Lee just won the match." Naruto stated. Ino gave him a confused look before she whipped her head around to see Lee come darting out of the smoke, gliding on a pair of… weird shoes with blades on the bottom. Misumi tried to follow Lee, but he slipped on the ice and fell flat on his face. Lee darted about, occasionally cutting Misumi up with his skates. When he had to dodge, Lee pulled off some incredible moves, often lowering his body to the ice while still staying up. Finally, after a few minutes of playing around, Lee tripped Misumi and grabbed onto his foot while spinning around progressively faster. Naruto's grin grew wider as the upcoming bloodbath drew nearer.

"What in Kami's name is he _doing_?" Hinata asked, looking entranced and rather dizzy from watching Lee spin.

"Watch," Naruto told her. Seconds later, Lee tossed Misumi up into the air and jumped upwards after the rubber nin while swinging his legs.

"KUROGANE RENGE!" Lee shouted. With a sound of blade cleaving flesh, Lee cut Misumi's head from his shoulders. Blood spattered over the ice as Lee and the headless corpse of Misumi landed with a click of metal, and a thump of flesh. Nobody said a word, or made a noise until Gai started clapping, followed by Naruto, Tenten, and Neji.

"Shosha, Rock Lee." Hayate announced. Lee whooped for joy and did a quick victory lap around the arena before the ice began to dissipate and he headed back up to the sidelines.

**Hyuuga Hinata vs. Hyuuga Neji**

'_This'll be interesting,'_ Naruto thought as the Hyuuga seductress and the Hyuuga prodigy faced off in the arena. For some reason, neither had their Byakugan activated.

"So, what first Hinata-sama?" Neji asked with a calm grin on his face. A short ninja-to slid out of Hinata's sleeve and she held it at ready, with the unsharpened side against her arm. Neji only grinned a little wider as he unsheathed Hyakurai.

"Kenjutsu it is, then." he stated as he got into a ready position.

"No jutsus either." Hinata added. Neji simply nodded.

"Hajime!" Hayate announced. Hinata started forwards, twirling her blade rapidly. Neji blocked the strike to his side and countered with his own slash. Hinata jumped over the strike and brought her blade down to stop the uppercut strike that Neji had started. Sparks flew from their blades as the cousins Hyuuga ran their blades against each other's. When Neji seemed to be overpowering Hinata by pushing his blade forwards onto her horizontal-positioned blade, Hinata wrenched her blade away from its blocking position against Neji's. The elder Hyuuga stumbled forwards, and winced in pain when Hinata smacked him with the butt of her blade. Neji still managed to block Hinata's overhead strike and parry it to the side. He followed up his parry with a thrust, which Hinata redirected to the side of her. Their kenjutsu match went on for several more minutes before they jumped away from each other with one final strike.

"Taijutsu?" Hinata asked, sliding her blade back up her sleeve. Neji nodded and began a strafing charge. He began to utilize what Kung Fu he knew, which Hinata matched with another style that Naruto didn't recognize. Neji seemed to be dominating the match as he knocked Hinata around. But Hinata made a spectacular comeback when she sunk her fist into Neji's gut and punched him in the jaw. It was then that they broke out the jutsus.

"Raiton: Raikyu!" Neji cried, slinging a ball of electric-natured chakra at Hinata.

"Suiton: Teppōdama!" Hinata countered. A large ball of water shot from her mouth and intercepted the Raikyu. The water bullet absorbed the blast, and became electrically charged as it continued towards Neji. Neji managed to unsheathe Hyakurai and block the water bullet, while reabsorbing the electricity into his sword. He gritted his teeth as a small amount of electricity licked at his arms.

"Raiton: Ikazuchi no Kiba!" Neji cried, slamming Hyakurai's blade into the ground. The stone tiles cracked as the fang of lightning chakra seared through the ground. Hinata was not known as a quick thinker for nothing, though.

"Sen'eijashu!" she shouted. Two snakes shot from her sleeves and latched onto the railings of the stands. Hinata yanked on the snakes, which made her shoot upwards and away from the lightning. The snakes unwound from the rail and streamed towards Neji. Not expecting that move, Neji was bound by the snakes and thrown from his feet. As he tumbled across the ground, Neji swung his sword and popped of a small bullet of lightning that hit one of the snakes, traveled up it, and zapped Hinata. The Hyuuga heiress crashed into the ground, unable to move for a moment as her nervous system recovered from the disruption of her neural signals. At the same time, the two Hyuuga rose from the ground. They dusted themselves off as they stared each other down.

After almost thirty seconds, they began a dash for each other. As they passed each other, they both took a swipe at each other. Naruto missed what happened as they both stopped in a crouching position. But after a moment, Neji began to gasp for air as he clutched his chest and fell to the ground. Hinata coughed, and Naruto was just barely able to discern a small puddle of blood hitting the ground. But unlike Neji, Hinata remained on her knees.

"(-Cough) I suggest that (cough, cough) you tend to Neji. I think that (cough) I punctured his lung." Hinata coughed out as she started to produce healing chakra and applied it to her chest. Hayate was looking impressed at the fight the two Hyuugas had put up. Naruto was very proud of the once shy little girl.

"Shosha, Hyuuga Hinata." Hayate announced as the medics healed Neji as they carried him out of the arena. Hinata's team and Naruto began to clap as she walked back up to the balcony.

The next match was Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Gaara. Even though Sasuke wore his confident smirk, Naruto's well trained eyes saw right through the mask that he always used to wear. Sasuke was worried. Naruto suspected that it was from the strange seal in the shape of the Sharingan's tomoe on his neck. Judging from Sasuke's low chakra levels, Naruto had deduced what the seal probably did. It forcibly withdrew chakra from the bearer's body into itself, forcing the person to activate the seal to use chakra. But the seal somehow corrupted the chakra into something decidedly evil. This new evil chakra was like alcohol or a drug; the user became addicted to it and became dependent on it, using it liberally and losing themselves to the darkness that came with the seal.

'_And knowing Sasuke with his little obsession, he probably won't hesitate to use the power.' _Naruto mused darkly. As he stopped thinking, he looked down on the match that had started. Sasuke was trying furiously to attack Gaara with taijutsu, but was failing horribly. Gaara's gourd full of sand was blocking every attack that the Uchiha threw at him. But somehow, Sasuke managed to punch Gaara in the face. He heard Temari and Kankuro gasp. Apparently, Gaara was an 'untouchable' ninja, seeing as his sand protected him. But now, he had been hit. Sasuke had not punched him hard, but Gaara was so unused to being physically harmed that his pale skin immediately bruised. When Gaara looked up, Naruto gulped when he saw not a drop of sanity in Gaara's bloodlust-crazed facial expression.

"... So this is what pain feels like," Gaara droned before letting out the most evil laugh Naruto had ever heard from a human. "By killing you, I can prove that my existence is superior to everyone else's! You amuse me greatly, Uchiha Sasuke!" Gaara yelled before the sand gourd on his back fell off and he began to form a set of hand seals that Naruto was all too familiar with.

'_That's-!'_

"Yoroi no Tanuki!" Gaara commanded. His body began to glow a sandy golden colour. When the glow died down, Naruto looked rather unsurprised. Gaara's armour was similar to his own. But his armour looked like a giant, demonic raccoon with blue swirl markings and a single, large tail instead of nine thinner ones. Everyone Genin and a few of the Jounin in the stands looked terrified, save Naruto and... Yugito?

'_A-ha! So she _is_ one of the Nine!' _Naruto concluded silently.

"**Indeed," 'Wait just a little longer Nibi-chan; Kyuu-kun's comin' for ya!' **Kyuubi though to himself, ecchi images flaring in his foxy mind. Naruto's attention was on Gaara as he pulled his tail out, and it split in two. The longer segment of the tail morphed into a large zanbato about seven and a half feet long. The shorter segment transformed into a wicked-looking flail mace with glinting spikes all over the ball.

"Have a nice death, Uchiha Sasuke!" Gaara said in a hollow-sounding voice from within the armour before he zipped forwards with amazing speed. Sasuke gulped as he began to evade Gaara's attacks as best that he could. For the first little while, the Uchiha didn't fare too well. But after he got sliced up the arm with Gaara's flail, he was suddenly able to evade the armoured psychopath's attacks much easier. When Sasuke stopped for a moment, Naruto used a chakra technique on his optic nerve to give himself temporary telescopic sight. When he got a good look at Sasuke, he discovered why the Uchiha was able to evade Gaara's attacks quite quickly:

His eyes had turned red, and sported a single tomoe in his right, and two in his left.

"Hmm... this just got a little more interesting." Naruto said to himself. Tenten turned her eyes from the battle to her boyfriend.

"Why is that?" she asked, tilting her head cutely to the side.

"Sasuke-teme's just activated his Sharingan." Naruto answered shortly. Tenten turned back to the match with a raised eyebrow. But even with his new boon, Sasuke didn't last too long against Gaara. The tanuki boy managed to stab Sasuke in the leg, grab his arm, and completely crush it. As Gaara raised the huge zanbato above the helpless Uchiha with the intent to skewer him, something wrapped around the sword, stopping Gaara from delivering the killing blow. The armoured nin whipped around to see Naruto, holding his battle chain, which was wrapped around the sword.

"Why do you stop me, Brother Naruto?" Gaara asked spitefully. Naruto growled gutturally.

"Because, Brother Gaara, the match has been won. What point would there be in destroying a defenseless opponent?" Naruto asked in a deathly quiet voice.

"It is only when I kill do I feel truly alive." Gaara began, letting his grip on the zanbato go limp. "By killing, I ensure that my existence will never cease. And once everyone is dead, _nobody_ will ever be able to deny my place in the world." Gaara explained. Naruto's face was devoid of emotion as he regarded the insane boy.

"If you believe that living for yourself is the only way to be strong, _Brother_," Naruto spat the honorific of the Nine like it was something particularly foul, "then you must be the biggest fool that I have ever met." Naruto yanked on the large battle chain, dislodging it from Gaara's zanbato. If one were to listen closely, one could hear Gaara snarling under his breath at Naruto's veiled insult of him being weak from having no bonds to any others.

"Shosha, Sabaku no Gaara." Hayate called, looking rather nervous.

The next match was Aburame Shino vs. Shura Kujaku. In this match, Naruto discovered that the Kumo nin was not only named after a peacock, but as flashy as one too. This was demonstrated through several techniques such as her Shiraha Shuriken no jutsu. This technique launched dozens and dozens of small white shuriken, shaped like little feathers that could only be seen if light was shone on them in the right way. Shino took several of these shuriken in non-vital points such as his arms. He quickly discovered that the Shiraha Shuriken could be burned like real feathers. Unfortunately, the feather projectiles were not the only weapons that Kujaku had. When her longer range assault failed, she charged in at Shino and demonstrated why her name meant 'Fighting Peacock'. One of her close range taijutsu moves was the fiery Takaken. Shino only got hit by it once; it almost sent him through the wall. Naruto thought that Shino was going to lose at first, but then he remembered that Shino's Kikai bugs ate chakra, and most of Kujaku's attacks were reliant on chakra. After Naruto put two and two together, Shino started to use his bugs to suck Kujaku dry of her chakra before falling to his knees. But unlike Kujaku, Shino remained conscious.

"Shosha, Aburame (cough) Shino." Hayate announced as the peacock girl and the bug boy were carted out for medical attention.

**Sabaku no Temari vs. Tsukiakari Tenten**

"Good luck babe," Naruto whispered to Tenten with a little pinch on the rear as she walked down to the arena. Tenten blushed when he did so, but fought it back when she faced Temari. The Suna kunoichi looked rather confident... too confident.

'_She thinks just because Gaara beat the teme that we of Konoha are weak. Boy is she in for a rude awakening.'_ Naruto thought, earning a snicker from Kyuubi as Hayate told them to begin.

"Why don't you just give up? You Konoha ninja are weak." Temari boasted arrogantly. Tenten simply smirked and shook her head condescendingly.

"What's so funny?" Temari demanded, laying her hand on her battle fan.

"Well, you being so stupid is what's so funny. Gaara was insanely strong. You're just an ordinary Genin." Tenten explained to a now irate Temari while pumping some chakra into a coiling tattoo of a Chinese dragon on her right arm. With a small flash of light, Tenten could be seen holding Hiryuu in a ready stance.

"Just for your arrogance, I'll pound you into dust." Tenten declared. Temari didn't look fazed.

"Whatever you say," she said before swinging her fan and sending a gust of air at Tenten who flipped out of the way. She thrust Hiryuu forwards, and transferred some wind chakra into it. The blade separated into its chain form and thundered forwards. Temari, not seeing the chakra imbued in the blade, brought her fan up to block the blade. Imagine her shock when the tip fragment of the blade pierced her fan, and Tenten yanked it away. The bun-haired girl caught the fan and smirked at the gaping Temari.

"This fan was your best weapon," she stated before she turned Hiryuu back into its blade form and chopped Temari's fan in two. Temari's mouth fell open and she fell to her knees.

"As Sabaku no (cough) Temari seems unable to continue, the winner is Tsukiakari Tenten." Hayate announced as the almost comatose Temari was dragged up to the balcony. Naruto rewarded his girlfriend with a hug and a long kiss.

In the next match, Kankuro defeated Akado Yoroi with his Karakura Engeki. By using his three puppets Karasu, Kuroari and Sanshouo, Kankuro trapped Yoroi inside Kuroari and stabbed him to death with a disassembled Karasu. During their match, Kiba managed to wear Chouji out first, resulting in the dog boy's victory. And finally...

**Uzumaki Naruto vs. Nii Yugito**

Naruto calmly strapped Jakyo from his back as he faced Yugito. It wouldn't be fair if he could reap during his match. The older blonde girl let one of her whips unravel as she stared calmly at him.

"Just so you know, I won't hold back, even if you're cute." Yugito warned him before she snapped her hands over her mouth. Did she really just say that?!

"Oh? So I'm cute now, am I Yugito-_chan_?" Naruto asked slyly, grinning even wider when Yugito blushed a fierce crimson.

"S-Shut up!" she stammered, making Naruto chuckle. "Stop laughing!" Yugito snapped, only making Naruto laugh harder. "DAMMIT!" Yugito screeched as she started a mad dash, almost bowling Hayate over. Still recovering from his laugh, Naruto did not react fast enough to stop Yugito from crashing into him. As he fell onto his back, he felt a weight on his chest, stomach and legs. He blushed when he felt two, large, soft objects pressing onto his chest, almost touching his face. He looked up to see Yugito's furious face barely inches from his own.

"It's not nice to laugh at ladies like that Naruto. I guess it's time to punish you." Yugito whispered before she initiated in the 'punishment' Naruto flushed when she started to rub her body against his own. Like any straight man, Naruto's 'little buddy' woke up to the sweet scent of hormones in the air. Up on the balcony, the reactions varied. Kakashi, Zabuza, Kiba, Kankuro and Sarutobi all had envious looks in their eyes as Naruto was dry-humped by the cattish siren. Everyone started to back away from Tenten a good ten metres when she turned red in the face and smoke shot from her nostrils.

'_Must not kill the bitch, must not kill the bitch, must not kill the bitch...' _was the mantra that was running through Tenten's head as she watched Yugito try to get her and Hana's piece of ass.

Naruto was officially freaked out. "What in the nine levels of fucking hell are you doing?!" he whisper yelled to Yugito who simply slowed her pace and whispered seductively into his ear:

"No straight man is left conscious after I use my seduction moves on them." Yugito whispered, licking Naruto's cheek. Naruto simply smirked.

"Well, I'm straight as a board, but I sure ain't gonna lose to you!" Naruto declared before he flat out hook punched Yugito in the right cheek, making her roll off of him. Naruto sprang upwards and grasped his scythe, not removing it from his back. Yugito clutched her cheek before she stiffened. No man had ever resisted her before!

'_He must want to play a little bit!'_ Yugito thought before she felt her primal instincts for satisfaction take over. Naruto arched an eyebrow when Yugito got down on all fours and let fly a rumbling purr. He paled further when he detected the scent of arousal from the cat girl.

"Yugito want, Yugito need, Yugito HAVE!" she squealed before she leaped at him again.

"**Oh, SHIT! Nibi-chan's horny!" **Kyuubi shouted in terror.

'_Nibi-chan?! You pick this time of all to tell me that this smokin' hot piece of work is possessed by your demoness of desire?!' _Naruto moaned loudly in his head.

"**Less talk, more run kit! Nibi-chan's taken over, and she'll make this Yugito girl ravish you to death if you're not careful!" **Kyuubi warned as Naruto started to backpedal.

'_Death by sex... that wouldn't be the worst way to die...' _Naruto thought with a giggle.

"**Yea... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"** Kyuubi screamed in terror as Naruto just missed getting jumped by Yugito. But the Kumo girl had come down so hard that she created a shockwave which threw Naruto off balance for a second. She whipped her head to the left as Naruto regained his footing and started to back away.

"Oh no you don't, you little fox!" Yugito giggled like a horny schoolgirl as she swung one of her whips to restrain the object of her desire. Due to her kneeling position, Yugito's height had decreased, making her level with Naruto's waist. And she reached straight ahead, sooo...

Naruto seized up as Yugito grabbed his goodies.

"**Wow, he's big!" **Nibi remarked with a giggle. Yugito gave a horny giggle as well. Every sound in the arena had ceased as they watched the Kumo girl fondle Naruto. That is, until Tenten exploded.

"YOU'RE DEAD YOU FUCKING CAT BITCH! I DON'T CARE HOW FUCKING STRONG YOU ARE, I'M GOING TO FUCKING MURDER YOU FOR TOUCHING MY NARUTO-KUN!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Yugito turned to the screaming girl and simply flipped her the one finger salute.

"Shut up," she said to Tenten before she turned back to her 'prize' Her eyebrows shot up when she saw that she was only holding a limp pair of pants.

"Now where'd he go?" Yugito asked no one. She looked around and spotted Naruto on the stage, pulling on another pair of pants that had seemingly come from nowhere.

"Where'd he get those pants from?" Yugito wondered aloud. Many others shared Yugito's confusion. Tenten giggled this time, making everyone turn to her.

"He's always prepared," she told them, making everyone blush at the bun-haired girl's implications.

Naruto had just finished putting on another set of pants when he sensed the horny cat girl flying at him again. Naruto managed to sidestep Yugito just before she tried to glomp him again.

'_So, the kitty wants to play. Okay!'_ Naruto thought as he smacked Yugito's round, firm ass as she flew by. Yugito came to a screeching halt when she landed, and didn't move a muscle. Naruto was curious as to why she had stopped moving until he felt KI start to leak from her. Yugito turned around, and Naruto took an alarmed step back when he discovered that her light blue eyes had become venomous green with cattish slits for pupils.

Yugito was outraged. That wasn't right! _She _was the one who was supposed to play with her food! Her food wasn't supposed to play with _her_!

"**Come on kitten, make him pay for that! Make him suffer for his perviness!" **Nibi coaxed. Yugito let out a feline-esque shriek before she started to try and claw Naruto to death.

"What's the deal here Yugito?! I thought you liked me!" Naruto asked as he got nicked in the chest by one of Yugito's claws.

"It's because _I'm_ the one who plays with my food! Now fight!" Yugito shouted as she launched a bolt of lightning from her hand without any hand seals. Naruto got zapped in the chest, making his already spiky hair stand straight up. Now he looked like an upside down broom.

"**Now would be a good time to use that jutsu I taught you back in the Wave Country kit." **Kyuubi suggested.

'_What use would they be if Yugito can just vaporize them?'_Naruto asked in reply as he recovered from the shock.

"**Well, Nibi's the only creature associated with this kind of thing, so doing this should surprise her stiff." **Kyuubi explained. Naruto mulled it over before he nodded. He unstrapped Jakyo and tossed it up in the air while going through a list of forty-three seals extremely quickly. When he caught Jakyo and started twirling it in a specific pattern, the scythe started to glow the same colour as Yugito's eyes.

"What's he planning Kakashi-sensei? I've never seen this jutsu before." Sakura asked Kakashi. The Copy Ninja could only shrug in response; he was as clueless as his female student. On the balcony, everyone else was wondering what the blonde was doing.

"I hope you like your own medicine Yugito! Shiton: Bachiatari no Kōshin!" Naruto shouted and slammed the butt of Jakyo into the ground. The green glowing scythe sent multiple crackling bolts of green lightning through the ground as its vein faded. They stopped at random points, letting off bright flashes of green-white light. When they cleared, people gasped, screamed in terror, or fainted at what they saw on the floor:

Zombies. Dozens and dozens of zombies. What little of their skin that was left clinging to their rotting flesh was pasty white or a greyish-yellow, and covered in blood. Their glowing yellow eyes matched their equally yellow teeth and some of the stains on their rags of clothing. While some of them were dressed like ordinary civilians, a few of the zombies had remnants of ninja garb on them.

Yugito was paralyzed. She had thought that only she could raise the dead, and she never did it very often. Why? Because even raising one of the damned pretty much exhausted her of chakra. And yet, here was a mere _boy_ who could summon up an army of dead without even breaking a sweat.

'_This boy... he's so much stronger than I am. Even if I transformed, there's no way I could defeat him and not die myself.__'_ Yugito realized as she stared at the stationary army of undead.

"**C'mon, don't think like that kitten! There's only one way to find out how strong this kit is, and we won't know until we try him!" **Nibi shouted.

'_But-' _

"Attack, my zombies!" Naruto commanded like an army general. The walking corpses started to moan as they staggered forwards, slowly picking up speed.

'_Shit!'_ Yugito thought, and started to draw on the Nibi's power. The arena went cold as Yugito was immersed in blackish-purple flames. The zombies that were closest to Yugito were burned to a crisp immediately. When the towering pillar of flames stopped, Naruto was greeted by the sight of a gigantic, flaming, two-tailed cat that swatted his zombies away like dust. The cat growled in annoyance when Naruto didn't seem fazed.

"Pretty good, Sister Yugito. But I will see your transformation, and raise you a legendary creature! Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Naruto slammed his hand into the floor, and the array of symbols and kanji that followed almost spanned the entire arena. The giant cat tensed as the smoke began to lift. There were multiple intakes of breath, grunts of surprise, or cries of fear when Naruto's summon was revealed. Naruto stood on the head of a serpentine, Chinese dragon. And not just _any _Chinese dragon, but the Seiryu: The Azure Dragon, Guardian of the East.

The Seiryu's large, pale blue wings twitched as its red eyes rolled up to look at its summoner.

"**Blonde hair, blue eyes, looks like a total dope; you're Naruto." **the Seiryu stated in a voice that sounded rather like the tone of a Yakuza gangster. The immense beast looked forwards to see a giant cat staring at it.

"**You called me out here to kick some flaming cat ass?" **the Seiryu asked.

"Hai, Seiryu-sama," Naruto answered, still a little irked that the dragon told him that he looked like a dope. The dragon let out a snort, blowing flames from its nostrils.

"**Hey Sunny-Side-Up, get this straight; my name is Jak." **Jak spat, **"I hate it when people go with the 'Seiryu-sama' shit."** Naruto resisted the urge to laugh.

"Okay then Jak; ready to kick some ass?" Naruto asked, cracking his knuckles as Nibi crouched and got ready to pounce. Jak let out something that sounded like a dragon's equivalent of a chuckle.

"**Hell yeah," **he growled before he launched himself forwards with his two legs. The giant cat opened its mouth and launched a fireball at Naruto and Jak. The dragon twisted out of the way gracefully and countered with his own blue fire jet. Nibi was pushed back, but seemed unaffected. The giant cat swiped at Jak with its tails, smacking him into the air. Jak started to beat his wings, kicking up dust everywhere. From his spot on Jak's back, Naruto was only barely able to see the dozens and dozens of scales that had stood up under his wings and pointed at Nibi.

**"Kibo Shuriken!"** Jak rumbled, flapping his wings hard and dislodging the scales. Caught in the wind, the scales flew at Nibi like extremely large shuriken. The huge cat tried to dodge the barrage of scales, but did not manage to avoid the one or two that hit its legs, effectively rendering it motionless.

"Thanks Jak," Naruto said before he leaped off of the Seiryu's head.

'**No problem, gaki." **Jak said in reply before he vanished in a blast of bluish smoke. While flying through the air, Naruto performed the seals for the Yoroi no Kitsune. The armour just finished forming as soon as he landed on the statue of the ram seal. Nibi had recovered from the Kibo Shuriken in the leg, and launched a ball of blue-black flames at Naruto. The fireball hit him full force, heating the armour and padding considerably as it threw the blonde back into the wall.

"NARUTO-KUN!" Tenten cried in nervousness. A dark, smoke-enshrouded form fell from the crater in the wall and made a dent in the floor before it righted itself. Many people became much more interested when the now armoured Naruto rose into the air on nine tail-like cables that were positioned at the base of where his spine would be. If one were to look closely at Nibi, they would see the widening of the cat's eyes.

"**Eul!" **Nibi snorted. Everybody became confused. Was the cat speaking in some sort of foreign language?

"**Nuk, zke."** Naruto replied shortly in the same language. Nibi growled before she charged at the stationary figure.

"Suiton: Unabara Soso!" Naruto cried before a giant wave of water appeared out of nowhere. Nibi was caught in the wave and roared before it was submerged, creating huge geysers of steam. Naruto waited with his chain at ready as the water evaporated. Sure enough, a waterlogged Yugito came into view, lying on the floor. Just as she was about to get up, she felt a weight on her back and something wrapped around her body. She painfully craned her neck to see Naruto's armoured form sitting on her back with his thick battle chain wrapped around her body, and his nine metal tails restraining her arms and legs. Around one of the metal teeth was a kunai, which was held against Yugito's neck. Yugito was absolutely motionless. She, Rookie of the Year at the Kumogakure Academy**, **and surrogate daughter of the Yondaime Raikage, had been defeated by a twelve-year-old, greenhorn Genin. And what was worse, he was a _younger_ Genin.

"... I... I give up," Yugito said in a toneless but broken sounding voice.

"Shosha, Uzumaki Naruto." Hayate announced. Naruto got off of Yugito and his armour vanished in a flash of red light. He yanked on his chain, making Yugito wince as the cold metal rubbed against her. She flinched a little when Naruto offered her one of his hands. Regaining her composure, she took it gently.

'_He's got really soft hands,'_ Yugito thought.

"**Indeed," **Nibi said offhandedly, **"he would make a fine mate." **she finished.

'_NANI?! I'm not going to be thi-'_

"**Oh, but you have to, kitten. Remember those 'rules of engagement' that I taught you?" **Nibi cut her jailor off. Yugito's face hardened before her eyes widened.

'_Th-that means-!'_

"**Correct, kitten."**

Yugito was silent as she watched the winners be congratulated by the Hokage. Her lips curled upwards a tiny bit when Naruto was announced to fight Inuzuka Kiba for the final round in one month. For the time period in between, they would be free to do as they wished. Yugito watched as Naruto silently made his way into the tower after shooing his bun-haired friend off. Once he was a safe distance in, she started to follow.

* * *

Naruto, though mostly asleep, felt that something was off. He didn't open his eyes, but he shifted his sleeping position slightly. After the matches, he had retreated to the dormitories in the tower to regain some of his energy. Though he did not show it, the battle with Yugito had taken a lot out of him. Raising all of those zombies, summoning Jak, and summoning the Yoroi no Kitsune had expended about three quarters of his chakra.

Back on point. As soon as Naruto stopped moving, he seized up when he heard a faint little whine and a warm object melded itself into his new position. Naruto broke out into a cold sweat as he cracked his eyes open. His vision was blurred from sleep, but he could still discern a mass of silky, pale yellow.

'_That's odd... I don't remember having a yellow blanket.' _Naruto thought. He reached out very slowly and let his clawed hand gently touch the 'blanket'. His blood ran cold when he felt something like very soft, warm, bare skin against his palm. Come to think of it, he could feel it all against his bare chest, as he had discarded his shirt when he went to sleep. The skin twitched, and Naruto heard something that sounded like a feminine giggle. He craned his neck very slowly to look and see what it was that was on top of him. The blonde did a full body blush when he saw what was on top of him.

It was Yugito. And she was _shirtless_. Covering her ample assets was a dark blue bra. Naruto did the only thing that his brain would let him do when a beautiful, pretty much half-naked girl was lying on top of him.

He almost jumped of the bed and yelled "GAH!"

Yugito was startled awake by Naruto's yelp. She let out a small scream as she was woken from her slumber. She jumped forwards, right into Naruto, knocking him into the baseboard of the bed. Fortunately for her, her head hit Naruto's soft chest. She looked up to be greeted by the sight of Naruto's wide, cerulean blue eyes gazing at her from the blonde's red face.

"Yugito," Naruto began, still panting for air, "what the hell are you doing in my bed?" he finished. Yugito bit her lip before she answered.

"I-I was keeping y-you warm Naruto-sama." she stuttered. Naruto was about to retort when he registered what she had said: Naruto-_sama_.

"... Why are you calling me 'Naruto-sama'?" he asked, slowly nursing the bump on the back of his head. Naruto froze up when he felt Yugito's hand gently pry his own away and start to rub his aching skull.

"I belong to you now," she said quietly as she soothed the aching sore on the back of his head. Naruto raised one of his eyebrows.

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked. Yugito stopped her tender ministrations and gazed into his eyes with something that looked like... longing?

"You mean, Kyuubi never told you about the Bijuu 'Rules of Engagement'?" she asked, raising one delicate eyebrow and tilting her head to the side in a very cute manner.

"... uh... no?" _'Kyuubi, what the fuck are the Bijuu Rules of Engagement?'_ Naruto asked. Said fox was about to explain when Yugito beat him to it.

"Well Naruto-sama, when a male Bijuu defeats a female Bijuu, the female Bijuu must become subservient to their defeater. In other words, the female immediately becomes the male's mate. The same rules apply for the containers." Yugito explained. The blood that was in Naruto's face drained immediately.

"Um... how long does this 'engagement' last for?" Naruto asked. Yugito again started to stroke the back of his head before she leaned in and brushed her lips across his cheek.

"Until we die Naruto-sama," Yugito answered as she laid her head on his chest. Naruto's brain fuses started to blow.

"Wait a sec, if another male Jinchuriki were to defeat you, would you have to serve him?" Naruto asked, fervently hoping that he could somehow make her drop her guard enough for Kiba, who was close enough to a Jinchuriki, to catch her by surprise and break this 'bond'.

"No," Yugito answered, bursting Naruto's bubble of hope. "The female must remain the male's mate for all eternity, regardless of if another male defeats her."

"Well, what if the female doesn't want the male that defeated her and is beaten by another male? Would she be able to go to him?" Naruto asked, praying to whatever deity was awake to hear his cries for help to get him out of this situation.

"No. Leaving a mate is considered one of a Bijuu's greatest blasphemies. I believe that Nibi told me it was punishable by death." Yugito replied, nuzzling further into Naruto's chest. Naruto could swear that he felt Yugito lick his belly, and he turned red.

"... Well, this is a real problem." he said quietly to himself. Yugito heard anyways.

"What's a problem Naruto-sama?" she asked, righting herself. This did no better, as she was now straddling Naruto's waist. Naruto raised himself onto his elbows.

"Well, you see-"

"You have that panda girl already?" Yugito answered for him.

"S-sorta. There's another girl too." Naruto stammered. Yugito's eyes widened before they narrowed in anger.

"And you would prefer those two over a much stronger and completely devoted woman?" Yugito said before she slid her hand gently behind Naruto's head and started to lean forwards.

"Relax," she whispered before she pressed her lips gently against her 'mate's'. Naruto's eyes widened and he tried to pull away from the cat girl's embrace. But her hold was iron clad.

"**Kit, what the hell are you doing?! You might as well enjoy this because this girl's probably not gonna give up on you, no matter what." **Kyuubi told Naruto. The blonde did not unclench his muscles, nor did he close his eyes or move his lips as Yugito continued to kiss him, eventually prying his mouth open and shoving her tongue down his throat. A good few minutes later, she slowly slid her tongue out of his mouth.

"Well..." Yugito began slowly, "How was that for a taste of me Naruto-sama?" she asked with a seductive grin on her face. Naruto sighed as he looked down.

His mind was split into two parties, and they were at war. One side of him was screaming at him to have Yugito and attempt to persuade his current significant others to allow her to join them.

The other side was telling him to reject the girl and stay as far away from her as possible. But doing that could break the blonde girl's heart and ultimately lead to her suicide. The last thing Naruto wanted was someone spilling their own blood by something of his orchestration.

"We had best go; I want to see the sun one last time." Naruto sighed as he got up to put his shirt on.

"What do you mean Naruto-sama?" Yugito asked as she reached for her own shirt. Naruto looked out the window and gulped.

"Because when I introduce you to my girlfriends, they're probably going to kill me." he deadpanned. Yugito looked suddenly furious.

"What?! I thought that you were going to be with _me_, and me alone!" she hissed angrily. Naruto sighed.

"As much as I want to make you happy Yugito, I can't just abandon my girlfriends. Although they haven't said it, I can tell that somewhere in their hearts, they love me like I have fallen in love with them. I couldn't bear to break their hearts by abandoning them for you, and I couldn't bear to break your heart by rejecting you for them." Naruto explained. Yugito opened her mouth to retort, but closed it as she processed Naruto's words. Her facial expression changed from hard and upset to one of resigned understanding.

"... Well... I suppose that I could... try sharing you." she said slowly as she slipped her shirt back on with some difficulty. Naruto's mouth curled into a small smile as he picked up his scythe and chain before taking Yugito's hand and exiting their room, dreading his next meeting with Hana and Tenten.

* * *

Tenten and Hana sat silently in Naruto's home, waiting for their blonde boyfriend to arrive. They had been informed by his K.B.s to come to this enormous mansion that Naruto said was his inheritance. At first, neither of them had believed it. Dozens and dozens of ramen cups in the kitchen had confirmed that Naruto was indeed living in this house.

"I wonder what he wants to tell us." Hana pondered aloud.

"Maybe it's something romantic." Tenten offered with a dreamy sigh. Although she didn't say anything, Hana hoped it was something along the surprisingly ditzy younger girl's line of thought.

As if on cue, the two girls heard the clicking and creaking of a door opening and closing. Both of them stood up as Naruto walked into the room and chucked his scythe off into a random corner.

_Clang! Crash! MEOW!_

Naruto winced, "Meh, I'll clean that up later." he said before Hana and Tenten brought him into a three-way hug, which he returned lightly. But even that simple less than very warm gesture got the two girls concerned.

"What's wrong Naruto-kun?" Hana asked, letting her slender hand rest on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto didn't speak for a moment.

"Well... Hana-chan, Ten-chan, I've... kind of run into another problem." Naruto answered lamely. Tenten frowned.

"What kind of problems?" she asked. A bead of sweat ran down Naruto's paling face as he tugged at his collar.

"Well... due to unforeseeable circumstances with my victory in the Chuunin Exam preliminaries... umm... I'vewoundupwithanothergirl." Naruto mumbled. Tenten barely got a word of what Naruto said. Hana though, with her highly enhanced hearing, got every word.

"You've WHAT?!" she screamed, making Naruto cover his ears and Tenten wince.

"He means that he's wound up with another mate." said a new voice that made Tenten freeze up, due to its familiarity. Her bun-topped head slowly creaked around to see the one girl she wanted to burn in Hell:

Nii Yugito.

"What the hell is _she_ doing here?" Tenten spat the word 'she' as though it tasted rather foul. Hana did not say anything, but she was hunched forwards slightly, and her teeth were bared; she didn't like this girl.

"I'm Naruto-sama's mate." Yugito answered. There was a pregnant pause before...

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, 'HIS MATE'?!" Tenten hollered.

"_I'M _HIS MATE!" Hana yelled, skulking forwards a step.

"Hana-chan, please! Calm-" Naruto tried to appease the irate Inuzuka.

"NO! I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! YOU'VE JUST PROVED TO ME THAT NEITHER TENTEN OR I CAN'T GIVE YOU HAPPINESS BY BRINGIN THIS SKANK INTO YOUR HOME!" Hana screamed at him. She stormed up to the younger blonde and slapped him across the face before running out the door.

"I never want to see you again!" she wailed as she slammed the door and left his home. Naruto turned to Tenten... to find no Tenten. She had apparently exited through the back door. Naruto dropped his head.

_'Kami help me,' _he thought before he began to cry, mourning the loss of his first loves.

**Revised chapter finished!**

**Jutsu translations and dossier:**

**Futon: Kaze Tobidogu- **Wind Release: Wind Projectile Weapons **C-rank**

**Katon: Endan-** Fire Release: Fireball **D-rank**

**Raiton: Rensarai- **Lightning Release: Chain Lightning **C+ Rank**

**Kagemane-** Shadow Imitation

**Kame Tate-** Turtle Shield

**Nan no Kaizō****- **Soft Physique Modification

**Kurogane Renge-** Iron Lotus **B-rank**

**Raiton: Raikyu- **Lightning Release: Lightning Ball

**Suiton: ****Teppōdama- **Water Release: Gunshot **C-rank**

**Raiton: Ikazuchi no Kiba- **Lightning Release: Thunder Fang **B-rank**

**Sen'eijashu- **Hidden Shadow Snake Hand **C-rank**

**Yoroi no Tanuki- **Raccoon-Dog Armour

**Shiraha Shuriken no jutsu**- White Feather Shuriken Technique **A-rank**

**Takaken**- Falcon Punch **(Okay yes, I did take this from Capt. Falcon in Super Smash Bros.) ****B-rank**

**Shiton: Bachiatari no K****ōshin- **Death Release: Rise of the Damned **S-rank**

**Kibo Shuriken- **Scale Shuriken **Unknown**

**Eul- **You (Common Demon Tongue)

**Nuk, zke- **Yes, me (Also Common Demon Tongue)

**Suiton: Unabara Soso- **Water Release: Ocean Funeral **No Rank**


	9. Sweet Child O' Mine

**The Reaper's Art**

**Chapter 9: Sweet Child O' Mine**

**A.N: Despite popular theory, this fic ain't dead yet. Sorry 'bout the long wait.**

* * *

The sun had not shone all week. The same amount of time it had been since Inuzuka Hana and Tsukiakari Tenten had left Naruto.

Said blonde demigod had been down all week, despite Yugito's attempts to cheer him up and her reassurance that she could make him happy without them. The Kumo girl had explained her situation to her Raikage-of-a-surrogate-father, and he had surprisingly understood. Of course, he didn't know who Naruto's father was. Ojiisan had taken the surprising news well, but had grumbled 'Lucky son of a bitch,' under his breath.

The darkness would end today.

Naruto would regain the trust of the two women who still loved him.

* * *

Security in Konoha was always a little lax. The three Kumo nin that were harassed and harassed Inuzuka Hana got into the village took advantage of that. At least, that's how it was at the wall.

The security at the Inuzuka complex was top notch. The rounds of the guards were tight; one circuit every half hour, on the dot. And even when the guards were not taking their rounds, they still had dozens of dogs patrolling the complex. If they didn't see an intruder, they heard or smelled him out. Well, they smelled _ninja_ out.

Naruto was no ordinary ninja. A quick spell to form a bubble that contain anything he might emit, such as a scent or chakra or sound, and hide him from sigh allowed him to slip past the patrolling dogs and Inuzuka guards.

Now the only task he had was to find Hana's room amongst the dozens of rooms in the complex. Using a dragon to keep him afloat would be impossible to keep hidden, and so would standing on Kyuubi. That left Naruto the option of crawling along the walls. Much longer and arduous, but for a good cause: regaining one of his first loves' love.

After empty rooms, sleeping Inuzuka of several ages and other things he didn't want to see, Naruto found Hana's room. When he peered into her window, he both liked and hated what he saw.

There she was. She was on her bed, her glossy brown hair still in its classic ponytail, but with multiple fine strands askew, hiding bits and pieces of her face. But even through the window and the fine curtains of hair, Naruto was still able to see enough of her face to tell that she was hurting... badly. Her mouth was angled into a miniscule frown and her lips were pursed ever so slightly. She was propped up on her left elbow and laying sideways on her bed. Looking down, he saw that she was staring at a small photo, most likely the one he'd had one of his K.B.s take when he was hugging her up in a tree. That was the part about the scene he hated.

The part of the scene he liked was her current state of dress. Her classic skin-tight short pants, mesh and solid tank top and Chuunin vest had been discarded. She was left clad in only a plain white bra and matching low-riding bikini-cut panties. They almost blended perfectly with her skin, which had gone from a pale peach to almost cream white. Both an interesting and disheartening change.

Now that he looked harder, Naruto noticed that Hana appeared to have dropped a handful of pounds, if the skin stretched ever so barely noticeable across her collarbone and well rounded hips could tell a tale.

Another pang hit his heart when he saw a small drop of water hit the palest pink sheets of her bed. It was time to win back his lover.

* * *

Hana fought back another lump in her throat as she stared at the picture of her cuddling with Naruto in a tree. After even meagerly tensing their relationship by welcoming Tenten into his arms, bringing that catty bitch into his life had just torn it apart. Just when she had started to feel like more than a very intimate friend to him. Just when she was starting to pluck up the courage to say the three magic words, he dropped the bomb that broke her.

"I didn't hook up with her by choice you know," said a dreadfully familiar voice at a dreadfully close proximity. Hana, not having sensed the intruder's approach, shrieked loudly and almost tumbled off the bed. As she strived to cover herself with her hands and arms while she glared at the intruder, she felt a particularly violent twinge in her chest as she laid eyes upon the one she had once almost admitted to loving.

Namikaze Naruto.

For a moment she couldn't form words. Her throat had wound itself into a double slipknot and was tightening rapidly. Her eyes started to warm up as tears began their march towards their ducts. She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw unshed tears in Naruto's eyes.

"What... what do _you _want? Better yet, how the hell did you get in here?!" she demanded, pressing her arm against her breasts and holding her other hand over the front of her panties in a failing attempt to try and cover herself up. Naruto didn't seem to be distracted by her state of dress.

"Quick spell, came through the window," Naruto answered dismissively, jerking his finger towards the now open window. Hana mentally cursed herself for not noticing it.

"And what I want is to explain something to you." he finished. Hana went from curious to angry.

"There's nothing to explain! You would prefer that slut over someone like me!" she hissed venomously. In a surprising move, Hana bolted straight up and moved to strike Naruto.

It all happened too fast for her to see. It all happened to fast for her to hear. Hell, it happened too fast in _general_. Naruto caught Hana's fist, pulled it to the side, shoved an open palm into her stomach and drove her to her bed.

Despite being out of breath, she started to struggle. Naruto quickly locked her wrists in an iron grip above her head and held her body down by mounting her and straddling her stomach. Hana began to twist and writhe furiously, like a fish out of water.

"Why?!" she spat out, "Why are you still trying to rub it in?! I will _not _come back to you! Even if you dump the cat, you've still betrayed my trust! Let me go! Let. Me. GO!" she was almost screaming by the end. Naruto marveled at how nobody from the rest of the dog-like clan could hear her.

"Yugito ended up with me because it's the law!" Naruto said above Hana's obscenities. The barely-clothed girl stopped struggling so much. Her eyes focused on the blonde's.

"'Law'?" she repeated with a confused frown on her face.

"The Bijuu Rules of Engagement," Naruto answered before he told her his tale. His long, sad tale of how his own father gifted and cursed him, his death and resurrection, and his learning of why Yugito needed to be bonded to him forever.

By the end of the tale, Hana was completely still. Her face was one of both shock and sadness.

"Now you see why she needs me." Naruto whispered to his first love. "I didn't take her as a girlfriend because you and Ten-chan couldn't give me happiness. I took her because if she does not bond to me for life, it's likely that the Nibi will kill her." Naruto said as he released her wrists. Hana didn't make a move to escape him though; she remained still. Naruto snapped her out of her trance when he cupped her pale cheek with his right hand.

"But Yugito can't give me the happiness that you can," Naruto whispered. This time Hana was sure that she saw tears in his eyes.

"And that's why I need you," he said as he stroked her cheek. "So please..." he started, weaker this time, "I'm begging you Hana-chan..." he gulped and she felt a wet drop fall on her stomach, "come back to me." he finished as he kept stroking her cheek. The sheer amount of pain in his voice made Hana realize how much she must have hurt him.

"I need you," he choked as he hung his head. "I want you," he was barely speaking audibly as he lowered his body and rested his forehead against her chest.

"I love you," he finished. Hana's whole world seemed to have shut down as Naruto uttered how he really felt about her. He cared so much about her, but his heart was so big that he couldn't help but see the goodness in others and fall for them as well. That was how he came to accept Tenten, and later Yugito.

"N-Naruto-kun," Hana squeaked weakly as she wrapped her arms around him. The blonde raised his head to display red bubbles with blue centres in the middle of his face.

"Do... do you really?" she asked, fervently praying that this wasn't a dream and that the man that she loved was actually there, admitting that he loved her. Naruto sniffed and wiped a tear away from his eyes. He seemed to be fighting to say something as he nodded and stared into her navy blue eyes, which he just noticed were that colour.

"... You've got eyes of the bluest skies, as if they thought of rain," he croaked out, his voice gradually growing stronger. "I'd hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain." he finished. Hana looked unnaturally touched at his rhyming description of her effect on him. Inside his head, Naruto was silently thanking Axl Rose for writing that crooning love song 'Sweet Child O' Mine'.

"... Naruto-kun," Hana started, "I'm glad you're here. Because I wanted... I wanted to say... that I wouldn't be able to live happily without you..." she trailed off, leaving Naruto begging the heavens to make her say what he thought she was about to say.

"... Because I love you too." she said before taking his chin between her forefinger and thumb and drawing his lips to hers.

The kiss was not fierce. There was no grinding of lips or wrestling of tongues. But that simple press of the lips held more passion than either of them thought was capable of being present. They parted, and Hana brought up a topic she had been dreading.

"I don't like it at all... but I'm willing to give being with you one more chance because I love you so much. If that means having to put up with that bitch... I'll just have to live with that." she said in a deflated tone. Naruto could have cared less.

He had his one more chance at love.

* * *

**There we go. Short but dramatic... for me at least. R&R please.**

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: PLEASE SEE MY PROFILE FOR ANOTHER CHANCE AT ADDING YOUR OWN CREATIVE TWIST TO MY WRITING!**

**Dirty Reid**


	10. I Saw Red

**The Reaper's Art**

**By: Dirty Reid**

**Chapter 10: I Saw Red**

**A.N.: Woot! Double digits! Sorry about the long wait, but I was busy pumping out other work.**

**\\ //_**

It seemed that the weather was more of a conduit for Naruto's mood than he originally thought. After confessing his love to Hana and her confessing her love to him, the gloominess in the sky had lightened, periodically breaking to allow golden beams to shine upon the village.

That's not to say that everything was all fine and dandy. Back at the Namikaze mansion, there was a lot of edginess going on between cat and dog. Despite having agreed to share Naruto with the cat girl, that didn't mean Hana had to _like_ Yugito. Over three quarters of the time they were in close proximity were spent either glaring at each other, insulting each other or catfighting. Maybe getting Hana to agree to share him with Yugito wasn't such a good idea.

"**Now don't think that kit; you know that we **_**have**_** to do this." **Kyuubi reminded him. Naruto was just a little surprised that this was the first time the demon had spoken to him in so long. His surprise only inflated when he realized that he hadn't had the fox out to keep him company either.

'_I know. It's just hard to do something when you don't know how to do it, y'know?'_ Naruto responded. He banished all thoughts not related to his current task: Winning Tenten back.

If anything, this would be harder than regaining Hana's love. The girls may not have said anything, but Naruto could tell that having to divide his attention amongst the two of them had created some tension. It was subtle, but Naruto knew that both of them craved more attention than the other, despite their friendship. While Hana was more accepting, most likely because of her minutely more primal mindset, Tenten had no such lesser restraints. Stubbornness and pride would make his little attempt perilously tricky.

As he pondered his game plan, he failed to notice he had reached Tenten's family shoppe. He only stopped and started to pay attention to his surroundings _after_ he walked headfirst into a lamp post.

_BONGGGGGGGG!_

"OWWW! MOTHER OF FUCK!" Yeah, Naruto was in a bad mood. Several men and women looked at him in shock and disgust or steered their children away from him. Even a couple of ANBU nearby couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed at Naruto's crude outburst.

Cursing under his breath as he rubbed his throbbing noggin, Naruto turned his attention to Tenten's home. By no stretch was it the Inuzuka compound, but getting in was still going to be tough. The building was rather unassuming and Naruto had no idea how many traps there could possibly be on it.

He was lucky when he discovered no traps on the building as he scaled the wall under a special cloaking jutsu that reapers often used when assigned to hunt down escaped spirits or runaways. As he walked along the walls, parallel to the ground, he wondered what he would say to Tenten to explain his situation.

"**Maybe you should use a song again."** Kyuubi suggested. Naruto considered the option before nodding with a shrug. He slowly peered into a window and felt a sad melody start to play along his heart strings.

There was Tenten. She was lying face down on her bed, fully clothed unlike Hana. Her face was buried in her arms and her torso shook with dry sobs. Although he couldn't hear it, Naruto knew that she was probably sniffling and stifling wails of sorrow.

'_Ironic isn't it? Love is what we crave the most, yet it is the thing that can hurt us more than anything else imaginable.' _Naruto noted to himself. Kyuubi gave the mental equivalent of a nod. Naruto gently manipulated his chakra into a thin needle and inserted it into the part of the window where the lock would have been. The lock unbolted silently and Naruto slid the window open without a sound.

He silently approached Tenten's side and removed his cloaking jutsu. She stopped her sobbing and froze when his chakra signature, also hidden by the cloak, became plain to her. She slowly raised her head ad looked at him with bloodshot and puffy eyes. The emotions they held switched from agony to almost fear and anger.

"What (hic) do _you_ want?" she demanded, trying to muster anger but failing. Naruto let out a dramatic sigh.

"I want you to listen." he said softly. This time, she didn't fail at mustering anger; she proved she could do it quite clearly when she leaped from her bed, tackled him and pinned him to the floor.

"There's nothing to listen to! You betrayed me and Hana by falling for that cat hussy you bastard!" she cried as she started smashing her fist into his face. Naruto did not try to stop her, knowing that he didn't deserved it but was willing to let her take her anger out.

After a minute of excruciating pain on his face's part, Tenten stopped punching him and began to pant. Her knuckles were bright red from the rush of blood to them and the broken skin.

"Are you finished?" Naruto asked as though nothing had happened. Tenten glared at him and a fresh round of tears gathered in her eyes.

"How can you just _lay there_ and act like you didn't do anything wrong?! How can you just act like you loved me and break my heart like that?" Tenten snapped at him.

"If you'll give me a minute, I'll explain it to you." Naruto repeated, getting just a little cross. Tenten's heated glare, not offset by the trickle of tears on her cheeks, did not waver. She continued to look at him but remained silent. Naruto took that to mean that she was listening.

He launched into his story, starting with the fox and ending with learning of the demon's Rules of Engagement. By the end, Tenten's face was blank. Slowly, her mouth angled down and her eyes began to shine with a fresh round of tears.

She did not speak. She simply lowered her torso and wrapped her arms around him before she started to bawl again.

"I'm sorry!" she managed to gulp through her sobs. "I-I had no idea! Oh Kami, I must have hurt you so much! I'm sorry Naruto!" Tenten continued to wail, soaking his shirt as he gently stroked her back. It was a wonder Hagane and Naiya hadn't heard them.

Tenten mumbled something into his shoulder. "What was that Ten-chan?" he asked.

"... I don't deserve you..." she said a little louder. Naruto's eyes widened. He gently lifted her head upwards to peer into her puffy eyes, still lined with tears.

"Why do you say that?" Naruto asked, more than just a little dumbfounded. If anything, Tenten had always acted as though Naruto was made for her.

"Look at you. Y-You're like a god on earth. Caring, charismatic and you can see the good in everyone. But me, I... I'm weak and I don't look carefully enough at things. I never even gave you time to explain yourself! I must have broken your heart when I left you, and that's why I don't deserve you because I hurt you!" Tenten's voice rose in pitch as she kept speaking before she lowered her head again.

"Ten-chan, don't you think that for a second. I should be the one apologizing because I didn't explain myself." Naruto admonished her. Tenten sniffled one more time before she looked back up.

"But... why? I still hurt you; why would you take that chance again?" she whispered. Naruto blinked and gently stroked her wet cheek.

"Because I love you," he whispered to her. Tenten stopped mid-sniffle and looked intensely at him.

"R-really?" she asked feebly, as though she hadn't believed him. "Why?" Naruto looked away for a moment before he slowly lifted himself and Tenten up, hoping that using a song would convince her.

"Because inside your eyes, I see my destiny." Naruto began, thinking that that line sounded just a little cheesy. But to make it more convincing, he gently stroked Tenten's cheek and stared intensely into her shining eyes.

"Every time we kiss, I feel you breathe your love so deep inside of me." he continued and he gently brushed his lips against her own. Tenten moved her head forwards to deepen it, but Naruto pulled back, intent on continuing with his line. He took both of her hands and got down in one knee, pulling her down and forcing her to sit down on her bed.

"If the moon and the stars should fall, they'd be easy to replace. I would lift you up to heaven," here Naruto released her left hand and raised his right to point at the sky, "and you would take their place." he finished in nary more than a whisper. Tenten's face was blank at the moment, but it very slowly began to creep towards a smile.

"That was beautiful Naruto," she breathed as she got off the bed to hug him warmly. Naruto happily returned the embrace with a smile of his own. Silently, he thanked Jani Lane and Warrant for the creation of the ballad 'I Saw Red'. He also thanked his master for allowing him such an opportunity.

"Naruto-kun?" Tenten murmured. The blonde flicked his eyes to the side, staring at her head.

"Yes sweetie?" he asked. Tenten loosened her hold on him and pulled backwards. The sad melody in Naruto's heart had lightened and become one that filled him with warmth. Part of that was due to the smile and tears of joy in Tenten's eyes.

"I love you too," she answered as she moved in to kiss him deeply. Naruto smiled into the lip lock as he slowly stood up and pulled her with him, rubbing small circles along her back. Naruto didn't bother to keep track of how long they kept kissing, but it was a long time. When their lips parted, Tenten had to take a deep breath and looked at him with dreamy eyes. Naruto smiled back, even when the dreamy look on her face dimmed.

"Just so you know I still don't like the idea of having to share you with Hana and the cat bitch." she told him. Naruto frowned just a little.

"Her name is Yugito, Ten-chan. And I know that you don't like the idea but please, just try and accept this for me, okay? Neither of us have a choice about being together. But I'm sure that I will love her someday and I hope that you will accept her too, because no matter what, I'm stuck with her. So try to be nice to her, please?" Naruto pleaded. Tenten bit her lip before she sighed softly with a resigned smile.

"Okay; for you." she finally agreed. "It won't be pretty, but I'll try just because I love you and I care for Hana." she gently kissed him one more time and buried herself in his arms. Naruto shed a tear from each eye as his smile threatened to split his face. His happiness cloaked the small ball of regret in the pit of his stomach.

He had all the love he could want; he just wished he would be able to savour it longer.

\\ //_

**Hello everyone. Sorry about this chapter, but my muse just isn't putting out like she used to. I'll try and make it up to you in the last few chapters. Yes, you read right, The Reaper's Art will soon be drawing to a close.**

**Dirty Reid**

**Song used: I Saw Red**

**As made famous by: Warrant**


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